Return of Gerald's Legacy
by The Lord of Nothing
Summary: Shadow is now married and an the most successful GUN agent, but after a special mission he is declared dead and his wife, Sonia is left to raise their fraternal twins. NO LIGHT SHINES
1. Proloug

I don't own any of these characters so far. ENJOY AND NO FLAMES PLEASE!

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Prologue: "Th-That call . . ."

_RING_

_RING_

"Dang it!" whispered an ebony and red hedgehog. 'Why can't it ring _before_ we go to bed?' he thought as he got out of bed trying not to wake his wife.

Wife . . . that concept was still new to his mind. Him . . . the loner . . . the dark one . . . the _faker_ as his rival called him had a wife. And not just a wife, but to him the most wonderful wife in the world: Mrs. Sonia Hedgehog. She was his rival's sister so that made him and the other faker brothers-in-law. That was a sight Mr. Shadow Hedgehog remembered fondly; when he had proposed to Sonia at the gang's Christmas party. Sonic had had been filling his mouth full with chili dogs when Sonia had said 'yes'. He swallowed every single one at the exact same time. After a brief bit of indigestion, he fainted. After he had awoken he started berating them about when they had ever dated even they had been doing such for four years. Shadow chuckled at the thought. He and Sonia got married at Station Square. The list of people was too long for anyone but Omega to list. Even the President had come to honor the newlyweds. Shadow's best-man had been Sonic and the head usher had been Omega. Shadow had done this partly out of spite. He knew Omega wouldn't mind showing people their seats and wouldn't been able to understand the 'fanin' up' as Bunni called it, and Sonic couldn't stand having to stand still for so long. He couldn't stand having to do it at his own wedding which had been a few weeks ago. It was a good thing Tails had been the best man and not Shadow or everyone would have seen him slap his hand over his eyes so not to see Sonic as he waited for Amy to come down the aisle.

Shadow walked the floor of his apartment G.U.N. had gotten him for his excellent service in the Black Ops. He and Rouge and the rest of Team ARK had a success rating of 100 and usually got the more juicy assignments. Like blowing up a S.A.F., or Shadow Android Factory that Eggman and set up to combat G.U.N. or journeying to some country that had gotten its grubby hands on Black Arms technology. But now that he was married he didn't go on as many missions. Probably fate, in its cruelty would kill him now that he was married and was ready to start a family.

He picked up the phone and listened for the ominous voice to come over the receiver. "Agent Dusk," the voice said completely monotone.

"No light shines," Shadow confirmed his identity.

"We have a mission for you." Those words sent a shiver up Shadow's spine. He was happy here. But it was his duty.

"Where do we conduct briefing?"

"Where the eyes are never blind," the voice said in code. Shadow knew what this meant; the old flat on the 23rd floor of the Statler Apartments in the small town of Woldorf, Indiana. He would have to run to get there in time the new commander, Sharon Loveless, wanted him to.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" said a voice behind Shadow that made his stomach turn into a pretzel.

Shadow slowly turned around to see his wife in a pink bath robe with a worried look in her emerald green eyes. He looked directly into her eyes. Trying not to show that he was afraid this might be the last time he would see her. "It can't be helped," he said his voice preparing to crack. "They need me to lead the team on this mission."

"Why can't they send someone else to do it?" she said as small tears began to form in her beautiful eyes. "Why not Rouge, or Jet, anyone but not _you_!" she ran towards him into his arms.

He put his arms around her. Truly, he wished that they would get someone else to do this, but he was the best and they knew it. He would never forgive himself for this. "Honey," he said tears forming in his own eyes, "I will return I promise. I'll fight the Devil himself if I have to but I will come home. Trust me." He pulled her closer and kissed her. He let go and grabbed his gun out of its case and went over to the coffee table and placed his hand on the underside of it. A computer scan beeped to life and confirmed. A small drawer slid open to revel the red Chaos Emerald. He took the Emerald off the stand, grabbed his trench coat off the coat hanger, put the coat on, and put the emerald in one of the pockets. He went back over to his wife and kissed her again. He pulled back and said with one of his rare smiles, "I love you." He was then gone in the blink of an eye.

Sonia went back to their bed and tried to fall asleep. But she couldn't stop thinking about her husband. "Th-That call . . . why did they have to call?" she whimpered. She didn't sleep the entire night. She couldn't as worry and fear of what the next few days would bring.


	2. Fate's Cruelity

Chapter 1 Fate's Cruelty

Five days later

Sonia turned off the TV. She really hadn't been watching it anyway. She was just trying to find something to do. Things were usually more exciting when Shadow was around. True he didn't talk much, but he would come up these stories about adventure and other worlds. Most of the time he had taken his own life and messed with it little to be more appeasing.

_What I wouldn't give to have him right next to her now making one of his stories_, she though t as leaned on the couch. She then slapped herself in the forehead. _I need to get out before I go crazy. Maybe I'll go the girls. They'll know how to cheer me up_. She got up off the couch and took a shower. She grabbed her purse, and grabbed keys for the bike. She went down the stairs to the parked Suzuki Hayabusa in the driveway. The only reason they owned a motorcycle was that Shadow could run fast enough to equal Sonic. She couldn't. She was strong, not fast. So, she and Shadow had bought it so she could keep up. It was her version of Tails' Tornado.

She put her purse in the side bag and turned on the ignition. It purred like a cheetah. She put her foot on the gas and it ran off just like her brother.

"Sonia, come on in!" practically scream Tails' fiancé. Sonia entered the cottage and put her purse on the kitchen table. Amy was sitting on the coach watching a soap opera. Bunni was teaching Sally how to make gumbo. Cosmo was humming to herself as she went back to putting up the laundry. And Blaze had locked herself in the bathroom.

The girls would usually hang out at Cosmo's cottage because the guys didn't bother them. They said that they weren't interested in their female stuff. Tails had built the house for Cosmo as a welcome home present and because she loved to be near plants and cottage was built in the forest near Tails workshop. He didn't like her being too far away.

"Why is Blaze in the bathroom?"she said half not wanting to know.

Cosmo sighed, "She's been throwing up since breakfast. Won't tell us what wrong." She folded her dresses with a small smile on her face.

"Why are you smiling?" said Bunny coming in the room with a good bit of gumbo on her apron. Her robotic arm opened the broom closet and took a mop out.

"What are you doing with that mop?" Amy said.

Bunni sighed deeply. "Sally's a sweet gal but she can't cook gumbo."

"She blew it up, didn't she?" Sonia said a little smile growing on her face.

Bunni nodded grimly. The Amy giggled. Bunni said again trying to change the subject, "Now what were you smiling about, hon?"

Cosmo smiled again. "You mean to tell me you haven't noticed it. Blaze and Silver have been married for two years. No children. Silver is usually gone with Shadow, Rouge, Jet and Tails on their missions. Now suddenly she starts throwing up and won't tell us what's wrong. My bet is that she's pregnant."

"You're probably right."

"Why do you say that, Amy?" Bunni said skeptical.

Amy smirked. "She ate four plates of pancakes, each one holding five one inch thick pancakes this morning for breakfast. Just wait for her to come out."

They waited for a half hour for Amy's prediction to come true. In the meantime they talked about the jobs that they had already or were planning on starting. Amy for instance was already starting a fashion line. Bunni was getting into a cooking show and she was bound and determined to make Sally her apprentice even if it killed both of them. Sally joined the conversation (after she had 

cleaned herself and a good bit of the kitchen off) and said she was becoming an engineer. Comso had been offered to teach Advanced Biology at a very prestigious collage. And Sonia was getting advice to go into designing dress as well, but not the same type of dress that Amy designed. Her dresses were made for one special purpose: marriage.

Finally, Blaze did come out of the bathroom. She looked horrible. Her eyes were bloodshot and had bags under eyes. Her purple fur was messy. She was wearing pajamas, but her hair was still in its usual short pony-tail.

"Hey Blaze, something wrong?" Sonia said trying to be cheerful.

"Hey Sonia," Blaze said with of a cough.

Amy smiled "Is there going to be a new addition to your family?" Blaze blushed like a tomato. Amy screamed happily and hugged Blaze. The other girls dropped what there were doing and hugged their pryokinetic friend. Sonia was really happy for her friend.

But when you're married to the Ultimate Life Form, fate is cruel.

_RING_

_RING_

"I'll get it," Sonia said. She went over to the phone and picked up the receiver.

A woman's voice ran through it, "Is a Mrs. Sonia Hedgehog there?"

"This is she," she replied.

"Are you sitting down?"

Sonia looked at the receiver confused, "Why?"

"I have soon bad news for you." Sonia complied by pulling a wooden chair forward and sat in it.

"What is it?" she said. She prayed that this was not what she dreaded it was.

"We regret to inform you that your husband, Mr. Shadow the Hedgehog has fallen in the line of duty by protecting his comrades from the Black Ar—"

Sonia didn't hear the rest of the message. She had collapsed in the chair. She cried like she had never cried before. Her husband was dead. The man who had become the other side of her heart, her entire world was dead. It couldn't be! He was immortal. He was too strong to die. He—"NO!" she wailed. "_SHADOW! SHADOW!"_ He couldn't hear her calls. He was gone.


	3. Medal of Honor

I DON'T OWN ANY OF THESE CHARECTERS EXCEPT THE TWO GUN COMMANDERS YOU MEET HERE!

2 Medal of Honor

A few days after she had received this news, she got on her bike and started to head for Central City where Shadow's funeral would take place. She wore a completely black dress with a veil that laced over all of her face.

Every since that call, all she could think about was who was to blame. The first on the list was Shadow, but she knew she couldn't blame him. He didn't choose to die. He was trying to protect his friends. She couldn't blame the members of his team either. They were her friends. They didn't do anything wrong. But there was one person she could blame: Cm. Sharon Loveless, the new commander of G.U.N. She had sent Shadow on this mission. He hadn't wanted to go. He wanted to stay with his wife and not worry about that mess. She has sent him to his death.

The funeral was held at noon on April the 19th. It was a cold day because it was raining, but even colder for those who had known Shadow. Sonic even gave a speech for it. He said that Shadow was just who he was. He was quiet, but thoughtful; he was powerful but only used it to help his comrades. But he was sad person. He had been rejected and used for so many years. Sonic tried to finish his speech but he choked on his words. Amy led her husband off the stage and let the President come up to do the eulogy. "Shadow was not only a hero in the life of this planet, but he was a close friend. Someone who was always going to fight for what he believed. During his mission to destroy a factory of Dr. Eggman, Shadow went back to make sure his comrades had a way of escape. He destroyed the enemy forces and made sure his friends could escape. He then forced them to go while he fended off the enemy. They escaped and waited for him at the rendezvous' point. They saw the factory explode with Agent Shadow inside. They searched the remains of the factory but only found this." He pulled out of his coat jacket, a gold bracelet. One of the bracelets that Shadow wore around his wrist to keep his power in check. "I would like to present this as well as this Medal of Honor to Shadow's widow." He pulled out of a case a gold star hanging on a solid blue ribbon. Sonia walked up to the stage to the President, tears already forming in her eyes. She took the Medal and the bracelet and went back to her seat.

Manic put his arm around his sister. He had combed his quills back for mourning. He and Shadow had gotten along pretty well and Manic had been very accepting of Shadow into the family. Manic was just a good friend to everyone.

Sonia looked at the Cm. Sharon Loveless in complete and utter disgust. The woman was tall with long jet black hair with steel cold eyes. Her face was set completely calm and stern like she couldn't show any emotion even on this solemn occasion. She wore her commander's uniform with black gloves as her only sign of mourning. Sonia couldn't stand to see the human commander. The woman had sent her to his death and she had the nerve to show up at his funeral.

Sitting next to Loveless was a man, about in his early thirties. He had a mop of dark brown hair and deep brown eyes with a good bit more compassion in them than Loveless. He wore a long black trench coat that stretched to his ankles. He looked at the empty casket that had been placed with a wetness in his eyes and his hand was on Loveless'. Sonia didn't know this man well but she had seen him before. For she knew this was Loveless' right-hand-man, Ltc (Lieutenant Commander). Robert Eclipse.

Sonia looked at Loveless utter hatred. Yes, she blamed the GUN commander for this and she always would. She would never forgive Sharon Loveless.

Many more speeches were made by many people. The entire Team ARK had attended and some of them made speeches. Many of them had scars from their adventure. Tails had a scar over his left eye that stretched down to his chin, Rouge had gotten a large gash on her back, Jet lost two fingers, and Silver lost an eye.

A statue had been erected in his honor. It depicted Professor Gerald Robotnick, his arm on his granddaughter, Maria, Shadow in front of them with Sonia in his arms both looking forward. On Shadows face was one of his rare true smiles.

Every time his name was mentioned, Sonia started to cry. It wasn't fair. She had married the most wonderful person in the world and he had been snatched away from her. First her mother now her husband. It wasn't fair.


	4. Shade and Crystal

Chapter 3 Shade and Crystal

**Sorry for the long wait. I've been _extremly_ busy. Hope you enjoy.**

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13 years later

"MOM! Hurry up, we're gonna be late for school."

"Coming, honey!" she replied.

It had been years since the death of Shadow, but Sonia was not the only one in the Hedgehog family. Turns out, before Shadow's death Sonia had gotten pregnant, and not with one child, two; fraternal twins. A boy named Shade and a girl named Crystal.

Sonia grabbed her purse and went out to the car parked in the driveway. Since they gang had found out she was pregnant, they had been trying to help her in any way they could. Sonic visited regularly with Amy and their son, Whirl (short for Whirlwind) who was one of Shade's closest friends. Manic and the Chaotix's group had built the house with Tails operating as the architect. Jet and the rest Babylonian Rouges had taught the kids how to use the Extreme gear which they first tried to do when the kids were three, it had been Jet's idea so he got the black eye from the mother. Cosmo had become Sonia's best friend and was always there if Sonia needed her. They would babysit each other's kids every once in a while. Cosmo and Tails had one child, a boy, Lucas, who another of Shade's friends and who had a soft spot for Crystal. Silver and Blaze both taught both of the children many things so they were probably third grade level when they were in kindergarten.

Now they were both in middle school and were really asking more questions about Shadow. For Example: Shade would ask 'where had dad come from'. That had been a tough for Sonia. How was she going to tell her son that his father was born in a Petri dish? But she would not lie to him. She told him that his father had been on the Space Colony ARK as a baby and that she didn't know much more. Thankfully, he had believed it. But that didn't stop them. Both of them tried to get access to personnel files on the ARK. But Cm. Loveless wouldn't let them. Now they were somewhat content with the stories their mother and friends told them about him.

"MOM! Come on!" yelled Crystal. She looked exactly like Sonia only she was thirteen and had one trait of Shadow's; she had red stripes on her quills.

Sonia got into her Dodge SUV and put the keys into the ignition. She adjusted the mirror to see both of her children. Shade sat cross legged pouring over a book on ARK, while his sister was listening to her IPod.

She looked at Shade. He looked exactly like his father in every single way. They even had the same color eyes except that his quills stood up a bit in the front. Only, since Shade never knew his father, he acted more like his mother. He was very curious about many things including his father and the famous Dr. Gerald Robotnik.

"Alright you two," she said hoping they remembered, "I know you have a lot on you plates today but I hope you remembered that Manic and Sally invited us over for dinner tonight."

Shade put down his book and said confused, "I thought that was Wednesday, mom?"

"Nope,'' she said, "I should attach a date book to your head."

Crystal laughed. "Be quite, sis," Shade said hitting her playfully in the arm.

The rest of the way to school past without much more said. Although Sonia noticed the wind had picked up dramatically since yesterday and the sky had darkened greatly. As soon as they pulled up into the driveway of Central Middle School it started to rain heavily.

"Bye, kids," she said to each of them. She watched them enter the building. As the doors closed behind them, she said to herself with a small smile, "Shadow, I wish you could see them."

"Miss Hedgehog! Pay attention"

"Sorry," apologized Crystal to Mrs. Orlando. The middle-aged owl teacher looked at the girl annoyed and went back to her work. Crystal had been looking outside into the stormy weather. For some reason both her and brother liked it when it rained. It wasn't depressing for them like it was for others. When it rained, they felt closer to their father. Their mother had told them he had been a sad person. He had a life that was too rough to imagine. They imagined that those rain drops outside were his tears that he never got to live to see them or live with his wife.

She finished the rest of her work in Algebra early. She and Lucas always finished before everybody else. Even though he was a year younger than everyone in the class; Lucas had been allowed to skip a grade and be the same class with Crystal. Lucas was tall boy with dark black hair and had deep blue eyes. He was a plant like his mother which gave him twin thorns on the side of his head but had inherited his father's genius and two fox tails. Crystal took turns from looking to the window to Lucas. When he looked up from the book he was reading, he would see her. She would quickly turn her head back towards the window with a slight bit of pink on her cheeks.

She wouldn't admit to anyone, not even her brother or her best friend Emily (Rouges' and Knuckles' daughter), but she had a crush Lucas Prower. He was handsome, funny, smart, very nice to people, what else could she want. Some of her friends like her cousin Alana (Manic's and Sally's) had told her that she always was looking at Lucas, but Crystal had denied it. Even Shade had said something was there, but Crystal shut up her brother by saying, "And what about Emily? Hmm?" He didn't approach the subject the subject after his face had gone completely beet red.

She looked at her crush a couple more times before the bell rang for her and Lucas to go to Physics. For the rest of the day it rained. And not just rained but poured. The clouds got darker and darker as well. She hoped it wouldn't be like this at the end of the year dance. It was the dance where the girls can ask guys to go. She was hoping to ask Lucas but not look completely desperate.

Shade walked out of the building as the bell rang for the school day to end. He didn't mind the rain messing up his fur. The rain brought him closer to his father. He remembered once in third grade, that they had to write a paper on who their hero was. Both he had his sister had put their dad. At first the teacher looked shocked at that. But when they had been given back the paper they were called into her office and told them she was more proud of them than any student she had ever taught.

"Hey guys," said a black wolf pointing and Shade, "it's one of the Hedgehog Twins standing out in the rain again!" He and his friends laughed. But Shade didn't hear a word of this. He was in his own world.

"I bet he's talking to his dead dad again," said a silver rabbit boy with an evil grin. The rabbit boy looked over to a green eagle who wore aviator goggles. He spoke to him, his laugh still entering into his voice, "Hey, Hurc! Look over there! It Shade the hedge-dork! He's looking in the rain for his bastard dad. HA! What an id . . ."

The rabbit boy couldn't finish his sentence. Because he had a left hook pummeling his face. A hook that had come from Hurc.

"What was that for?" said the silver rabbit getting up of the ground. "What are you mad about?"

Hurc looked down at the silver rabbit

"Next time you plan on insulting someone and tell someone about it, never tell their best friend about it, you got that, Jack?"

"Dad," Shade said quietly to the sky, "I know you're listening. But I'm nothing like you. Yeah, I'm smart, but I'm not super fast like you or Uncle Sonic. I'm not super strong like you or mom. I can't even do what was your trademark. I can't do Chaos Control or do any Chaos powers. You were my hero and always will be. I just wish I could have met you."

Shade did not know then the ironies of his words then but he would now soon.

He looked up and the rain had just abruptly stopped. Not only that, but the clouds began to twirl clockwise. Faster and faster they went until they opened up a hole about a few miles wide.

"What the heck!" he said in complete awe as little dots came falling from the hole. And as they got closer they got BIGGER. And he could see them clearer. They were black and red and reptilian creatures he had only seen in history books and his family had told him about. The Black Arms were back in town!


	5. Dinner's Canceled

Chapter 4 Dinner's Canceled

**Wellcome back everyone, now that I have the ability I'm uploading as many chapters as i can. ENJOY!**

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"Mom!" Shade screamed into his cell phone. "MOM! PICK UP!"

"Shade!"Sonia screamed from her end, "What's wrong?"

"LOOK UP AT THE SKY!" was his reply. Shade heard his mom gasp over the phone, "MOM! WHAT DO I DO?" He was starting to panic. He had never been in a situation like this before. But of course, Earth had only been in this situation once before as well.

"Find your sister and get Manic's jeep. He should have his drumsticks."

"MOM! THIS IS NO TIME FOR BAND PRACTICE! WHAT ARE DRUMSTICKS GONNA DO TO ALIENS!"

"You'll find out when you find Manic. Now, find your sister!"

"YES MA'AM!" Shade hung up the phone and ran back into the school for his sister. "Let's hope she's not looking at Lucas and had the same idea as mom."

"Lucas!" Crystal screamed as her crush was slammed into the lockers. He had tried to attack one of the black and red creatures which had busted its way through the wall. It had made a grab for Crystal. They boy was brave but he was no match for the creature when its massive arm slammed him into the lockers. Crystal ran over to him. He was out cold with a bit of blood coming from his mouth and a big bruise on the back of his head. Crystal tried to pick him up but he was too heavy for her to pick up. "Please, Lucas!" she began to sob that she might not be able to get him out.

The creature turned its attention back to Crystal. The little plant had been a minor annoyance, now it had nothing to distract it from her.

"Crystal!" yelled three voices down the hall. She saw behind the creature her brother Shade and her cousins, Whirl and Storm.

Both boys looked exactly like their dads except the small traits from their mothers. Whirl was just younger version of Sonic with mischievous nature and a love for comedy. He looked like his father except his quills were ruffled in the front. Storm looked exactly like his dad (Manic) even his quills stood up but were far thicker. But from his mom (Sally Acorn) he had inherited her fur color and a good bit of her personality like her get ability to reason and leadership abilities.

"Hey! Ugly!" yelled Whirl. He ran around the beast with his usual cocky smile. Crystal saw Storm with a fire extinguisher ready aimed at the creature. Whirl turned the creature right in front of Storm and his fire extinguisher.

"You wanted something well here's something!" out of the extinguisher came a torrent of foam that went straight into the beast's eyes. The beast roared in pain and fury. It roared so loud that Crystal could barely hear her brother's words.

"HURRY UP, LOVER GIRL! LET'S GO!" She didn't need to be told twice. She and Whirl carried Lucas out of the hallway. He was still out cold and there was more blood coming from his mouth.

"Please God," she prayed, "let him live!" they got him out of the school where Manic and Sally were fighting the black aliens. They put Lucas in the very back of Manic's jeep. Crystal sat with him as Storm went up to the front of the car and punched a few buttons on the dashboard. Instantly a holosheild came around the jeep. Crystal saw Strom's parents battle the creatures; Manic had his drumsticks and somehow they were manipulating the earth. Sally had a gun in her hand and was shooting the creatures with expert marksmanship. "Aunt Sally," Crystal yelled over the loud sounds of battle, "where did you learn to shot like that?"

Sally smiled as she shot down one of the aliens. "Picked it up," was her reply and she continued to open fire on the enemy. "Oh and kids," she said again a little smile on her face, "dinner's canceled."

After Manic and Sally had dispatched the aliens around the school (which they did in five minutes) they immediately got in the jeep and headed off to what Sally called "New Knothole". The kids didn't question their aunt. They only hoped for the rest of their family and friends safety. The two people in particular in Crystal's mind were mom and Lucas. She knew her mother would be okay but she couldn't stop worrying about her. Her father had died before she had been born and he was said to be immortal. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her mother too. But Lucas she didn't know that he was going to be alright. He had taken the hit for her and had known the danger. And now he was in danger and it was her fault. She prayed he would be alright. Maybe Cosmo would now how to heal him. She hoped so.

"Sis! You can't go out there!" yelled Sonic at his sister. She had arrived hoping to find her children with Manic and Sally safe at the new safe house. When she had discovered that they hadn't arrived yet, she was angry and was ready to march right back out into Station Square and fight the Black Arms herself until her children were with her. "They will be her any minute and you'll get yourself killed out th--"

Sonia pulled her gun out of her holster that she had put on as soon Shade had told what was going on and pointed it towards her brother. "Sonic," she said as the anger in it made it crack some, "Shadow once said, 'If you try and stop me, I'll kill you,' the same goes for me. No one, not even my older brother is going stop me from going out there to find my children." She put her gun back in its holster. She went over to the door and punched in the code to leave: Shadow the hedgehog. The door slide open and there stood Manic, Sally, Whirl, Storm the twins and Lucas in Manic's arms unconscious. "MY BABIES!" she screamed and hugged her children tightly like they were made of water and would escape if she let go.

"Mom!" gagged Crystal.

"We can't breathe."

She loosened her hold and would have continued her hug on her children, but Cosmo knocked her aside trying to get to her own child. She was in her adult form now with the blooms on the side of her head in full bloom and her hair stretched to her waist. "_LUCAS_!" she screamed. Tails took his son from Manic's arms and asked them what had appended. Tails was now twenty-nine now, his fur was a little longer and he was as tall as Sonic, and there was a long scar that stretched from above his left eye to his chin. Crystal told Uncle Tails that he had been knocked into lockers by one of the big aliens. Cosmo and Tails immediately took their son in the back of the room to see what they do for him.

Now that Shade was here, he could see what 'New Knothole' was. It was a bunker under an old factory in downtown Central City. The room they were in was some very good rendition of the bat cave. There were computers of every shape and size all around the room with light that could shame many casinos at night. On every spare part of the wall were maps of places all around the world and some of the maps were on tables in the center of the room. In the back was giant screen with knobs, dials, keyboards, joysticks all around it and large sign above the screen that said, Prower Command. The screen seemed to be off. But it then clicked to life. Light filled the screen and slowly started to clear to reveal a man's form. It was a man with dark brown, messy hair and brown eyes. He was serious faced and wore a long black trench coat and on it color were three gold stars. "General Prower?" His voice was cold yet very serious. "General, come in!"

Tails rushed out of the back room. He sat in the chair and put the Bluetooth in his ear. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Commander. My son came in injured and I was tending to him."

The Commander nodded his head. "I am sorry to hear this. But we must move on. Have you deployed your troops yet, General?"

Tails allowed himself a smile. "Those bastards won't escape my robots. Mine are _far_ superior to Eggman's. And of course we have your back-up plan." A scowl replaced Tails smile and he looked intently at the Commander. "Your back-up plan is ready, I gather?" The Commander inclined his head ever so slightly. "Good, I don't want to have to resort to it but we will if necessary."

The Commander's scowl lifted somewhat. "Tails, we don't have Shadow this time to do the fighting for us this time. We will have to do the dirty work ourselves. I will do everything in my power to send these demons back to Hell where they belong. I too do not wish to have to resort to Plan B but if my men, your robots, and your comrades, can't stop them then there will be no choice. Off that note, I would like to announce joyous news." The Commander's half lifted scowl turned into a grin of pure euphoria. "I and Cm. Sharon Loveless are engage to married soon!"


	6. No Light Shines

Chapter 5 No light Shines

**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Welcome to World War III. ENJOY**

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The days following were always drowned in fear and tension. The reports to Prower Command didn't help much either. Always something about the Black Arms using unusual tactics. However one thing that kept the moral within the ranks together was the co-commanding officer of GUN, Robert Eclipse.

He had been known as an expert in interrogation, but in times of trouble he was a pillar of fire and stone. He had even received a message from the new Black Arms leader, Umbra concerning the surrender of the planet. Robert stood there and basically spit in Umbra's face. That had made him one of the most adored people on the face of the Earth. He was a master in the art of subterfuge and a very unpredictable in battle. In the event of an enemy troop surrender, which was almost never, he was almost sadistic in terms which the prisoners were kept.

Of course none of the more dark aspects of his personality were known to his fiancée, Cm. Sharon Eclipse. She only knew him for the man who had fought off the Black Arms on the night he had proposed. He had a number of weapons hidden in his cloths and even more in his SUV. He had a bomb readymade in the back of the vehicle that had blown half the street to kingdom come.

In the beginning, the military commands of Earth had been prepared to immediately destroy the threat of the Black Arms. However now there were a few new factors to take into consideration that was complicating things. For one, there were far more Black Arms on the planet than were in the last invasion. Second there were using new tactics that made them more guerrilla like but when it came to it they used the large space lasers to launch huge attacks. And lastly, there was no Shadow the Hedgehog to take down the invasion. They didn't have the help of the Ultimate Life Form to kick the butts of the invasion force this time. Now all they had was the Freedom Fighters and GUN.

Most people were optimistic about their defenders defeating the invasion. The reports they received through the media showed that the robotic army of Prower Command which was part of the Freedom fighters and the soldiers of GUN could out maneuver the Black Arms. But in every war there are reports that the public doesn't see. And here we will hear one of these reports.

Tails sat his command chair controlling the patrols outside central city. Even for him commanding an entire army was very draining. He felt two soft hands come to rest on his shoulders. Hi entire body immediately become and fuzzy **(well, fuzzy on the inside)**. He turned around to see his loving wife, Cosmo smiling at him. "You need to get sleep," she said in her always caring voice. "You have been up for three nights straight. I thought we were thinking about having another," she turned her head to look at Lucas who tinkering with some of the scrap parts that Tails let him use, "you-know-what."

Tails felt a small blush go across his face. Cosmo must have noticed because she giggled. But he had to admit, he some rest. And what she was suggesting was _extremely _tempting. "I think I take you up on your offer. Just give me a second to put the computer on auto-command." Cosmo looked content and headed back to their room. Tails rapid punched buttons to prepare the computer to command the forces in the systematic pattern he has it in. Just as he was about to press the final key there is an alert about a message. Tails sighed He placed the mouse over the alert and clicked. A video conference came up with a raven haired woman in a full commander uniform. Her face was stern as usual but you could see the worry in her eyes.

"Commander," he greeted. He knew this was going to make him an unable to get any sleep for the next few days. "I hope this something important; I was just about to take off for the night."

She nodded her head. "I apologize for the hour," she said completely monotone, "but this is important. Look at this."

The screen went from her face to a video feed of a burning field. All in the field was the remains of some sort of biotech lying all around mostly obliterated. The camera slowly paned left to see the remains of Black Arms soldiers being piled up to be burned. They were bloody and many of their limbs had been completely ripped off. The camera again panned left now to see the remains of a stone wall painted red words 'No Light Shines.'

Tails looked at the words again before saying anything. He had never seen that phrase before . . . well at least not in a long time. He couldn't place where he had seen or heard that phrase. He thought back to the Metarex War and nothing came to stand there. He thought about the Black Arms first invasion. Nada. He thought about the time before he had joined GUN and Shadow had died. Wait. There was something. He had heard that before. He couldn't place his finger on it. Somewhere around that time. He knew he could place it he could just remember. "That phrase," he said more to himself than to her. He switched the video feed back to her. "Commander," he said his voice uneasy, "do you know what this phrase means. I heard it somewhere before I just can't place it."

She nodded. "I do know what the phrase means. It is one of GUN's old EPSILON codes. There were used from eighteen to ten years ago. That certain code was used by three agents and each of them is now deceased: Black Jack Pershing, Sir Montgomery, and Shadow the Hedgehog. Each of these great agents died fighting. They each used this code as a way of identifying themselves to other operatives. We have been planning to place that code up as a memory to these agents because they were the best. The old EPSILON codes have already been compromised. If you can figure out what the person or creature who placed it there was trying to say please inform me. But of course it could always be a coincidence of the connection."

Tails twiddled his thumbs as he looked at the phrase again. It had not written in paint, as Tails slowly observed. It was darker than normal paint and bit of a crusted look to though it had dried quickly. It was Black Arms Blood.

A flash went off to Tails left. An alarm was going off. "Sorry commander," he said quickly as hr typed furiously on the keyboard, "I have a little _black_ problem to work on." She nodded and the video conference ended.

The other adults who were awake crowded around him. Sonic, Rouge, Sonia, Blaze and Silver. "What's going on, lil bro?" Sonic groaned, his eyes betrayed the fact that he had just awoken and was still groggy from not having any coffee yet. "Those freaks stirring up trouble?"

Tails continued to type the keyboard, "I'm trying to see what the problem is, Sonic. Then we can find out what to do." A page pulled up on his screen; it depicted a sewer line with Black Arms marching in single file. All of them were armed with wipes and swords. Behind them were larger aliens who pulling carriages with large laser cannons. Tails looked at the top of page. It read _Central City Sewer Line._

Tails snapped awake. He typed furiously on his keyboard. He activated three squadrons of his GERALD class robotic soldiers. There were sleek, almost like there were from a Japanese monster movie. There were a bit taller than a man with sleek, almost razor like, half-moon heads. Their eyes were a single line the curved along with their heads. There were made to look muscular and with the powerful servos that have them the ability to move a Greyhound bus that was turned over. The squads that he had activated were the Sewer Patrols. They were designed specifically to fight in the tunnels if an enemy tried to attack through sewers. "Guys there Black Arms down under us. These seem to about to attack. I need some of you to go down there and lead the defense against these intruders. Sonic, I want--" Tails looked to his left to see not his best friend ready to go but asleep on the carpeted floor, snoring loudly. "Ok," Tails said with a bit of an exasperated smile. 

Sonia picked up her brother and placed him back in his room with his wife. Manic walked in, a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Is it time for my night shift?" he said a little tired. "What are you people doing here?" He looked a little surprised to the others around the command computer. He and Tails usually gave out missions from there to the soldiers and to the others. They almost were never in the command room.

"We have a situation, Manic," Tails said flatly. "There are Black Arms marching though the sewers under us. They could come top side at any moment if we don't do something."

Manic's eyes lost their tired look and be sat in a chair beside Tails. "Have the Sewer Patrols been launched?" he said just as flat as Tails.

"Affirmative. They are bringing artillery though the sewers. With it, they easily knock out Eclipse's Plan B with it. They need to be taken off the board.'

"Right," manic confirmed. "Sonia, Rouge and Blaze," he called to the three reaming people in the room. "Go get suited up in your armor and meet up with the Patrol. You'll each take a third of the Patrol and surround the enemy. I'm sure you three can handle a close encounter of the 3rd kind."

"Why did I agree to this?" Sonia said to herself as her and the squad of fifteen battle droids followed her.

"I do not understand question, captain," said the monotone voice of the lead droid.

"Nothing, sergeant, I was just thinking out-loud."

"Yes, ma'am."

They had been in the mucky Central City sewers for nearly two hours. Other than some of the Black Arms purple fruit thing they hadn't found anything. Sonia had always wondered what those things were for, but even if you barley shot it, it would explode. Probably just mines. Thankfully none of her group had been harmed by the mines. That wasn't what worried her. They had been done there for nearly two hours and there had been no sign of the Black Arms. To make matters worse, the video feed on the command computer had been lost. Most likely that the Black Arms had found the camera and deposed of it. So Manic and tails couldn't tell the soldiers where to pinpoint their attack. That made it all the harder. However, Tails' life scanners were in full operation. The only problem with them was the fact that these purple fruit things were all organic and were pulsing; the entire was pulsing with signs of life.

Thankfully Shadow, and Espio had finished it, had taught most of them how to track their foes. Otherwise Sonia would have never been able to find the small traces of the slime left from the artillery pieces Unfortunately, their best tracker was buried (well, it was empty casket) was buried in Arlington.

Sonia no longer cried at the mention of her late husband name. Although, it was still a sensitive subject with her. She had even slapped Sonic when he had told her to start dating. He may be gone but Shadow was still the other side of her heart. No one could replace him. She didn't know what she be about now if she didn't have her children. They had a place in her heart just like Shadow did. Right after they had been born, she didn't have a job. She had been so upset about Shadow's death, she had forgotten completely to start her designing company.

Sonic had offered to help out; he had gotten a _lot_ of thank-you checks from various people for saving the world so many times; that and the money he was starting to make as a track star. Tails had offered as well, but the help he offered she could accept. He, Manic, and the Chaotix team had built their home. She didn't want any more help after that. But that didn't mean she didn't get any. Tails and Manic hacked into her bank account and had placed several thousand dollars in it. When she had come to make a withdrawal from her originally very small bank account, she found that she 

was loaded. When she had found out, she was made that her friends hadn't let her deal with problems herself. But she soon realized that them helping had been the right thing. She couldn't have supported herself and her two infants. She quickly was able to stand on her own money that she earned from her thriving wedding company. It had started out as just a wedding dress studio but grew quickly into a full catering company.

Now the wedding designer/warrior widow wandered through the sewers of Central City, with a long rifle in her hands and a squad of battle droid ready to kick some serious alien .

A dark figure wandered through the sewers of Central City. It had been the only way in. The streets were patrolled by robots that could have detected him. He didn't want to attract too much attention; especially he had lost his temper and destroyed that battalion of Black Arms soldiers. He couldn't help himself. But his temper was what got him into this mess. If he hadn't made that one mistake all those years ago, he wouldn't be walking, cloaked in a dark and slimy sewer. Although, he had to admit, this far above an improvement where had been previously residing.

He had followed behind some Black Arms troops who had planned to use the sewers to launch an assault. Not if he had anything to say about it. He knew his comrades lay hidden somewhere in that city and he would kill these bastards long before they got to the capital.

He hoped that the pistol that he had taken from the GUN soldier not too long back had a good number of rounds in it. Otherwise he would have to count on his now weakened body. Normally, he would it have thought such things. He would have killed the entire force of aliens with one hand tied behind his back, literally. But his own recent past forbade his body from doing anything that could thoroughly push his body. After he did this he would have to find a med center. He was already pushing himself too far.

His hear perked up when he heard the marching of feet. He knew he was close now. Time to end this threat.

Sonia and her troops continued to march forward. They hadn't found anything other small bit of black slime and the purple fruits. But now she was starting to hear the rumble of the enemy marching. She radioed Blaze and Rouge to go to that position where the rumbling came from. She was ready to get this over with.

It took them a while to get there. But by the time Sonia and the others were in position with their troops, the entire enemy convoy had been wiped out. All that was left was a creature a little taller than her. It wore a dirty, dingy, ragged cloak, which only betrayed the fact the thing had something large attached to its head. She silently singled her troops to surround the creature with our making a sound. They did so with perfect precision. Tails had built these bots really well. All the droids surrounded the creature; their weapons were set for stun. If this thing could destroy an entire battalion of Black Arms, who or whatever this was, had to be brought in, preferably alive.

The figurer chuckled to himself as he saw out of corner of his eye, the robotic warriors line up around him. There were about forty-five of these robotic automatons. He could see their intent was not to kill him, but instead to catch him. It would be difficult to evade the s soldiers. His body was already taxed of most of his strength. But h didn't know who these robots took orders from. Most likely they had come from the Doctor, if he was still alive. Thankfully he had a few bullets left in the clip and he had grabbed a flash bang form that GUN soldier as well. Thing weren't going as he had planned.

"Alright you," Sonia yelled through the microphone inside her armor, her voice echoing through the tunnel in an almost robotic yet clearly female voice. Speaking of the armor, it was basically many different sheets of titanium that spread across her body. It was designed not only to be the foremost in defense, but it was extremely comfortable. It had its own heating and air conditioning. Nice. But a cool breeze wasn't going to help Sonia as she would try and subdue this man, monster, thing, whatever it was. "We have you surrounded. Remove your cloak and come with us. We mean you no harm, but we will open fire if you try and retaliate." The years had Sonia given some self control. Years ago she would have charged into battle guns blazing. Shadow had taught her that there are alternatives to fighting. At least in the beginning.

The thing responded turned its head to face Sonia. Even though she couldn't see its face. She could see its eyes. Fire red. They even seemed to blaze with an inferno of suffering and pain. "You," it said in a misty yet clearly deep male voice, "think that I'll come with you to the Doctor. You're sadly mistaken."

Even though he couldn't see it, Sonia's face was confused. _He thinks that Eggman is still a threat. Where has he been? Under a rock?_ "I'd not come from Eggman. I am member of Prower Command. We wish to know how you defeated an entire battalion of Black Arms Soldiers and who you are."

The figure chuckled softly. "Who am I?" he said his voice rising, yet somewhat familiar to the pink hedgehog. "I use to know who I was but that is a thing of the past. I am no concern of yours and whatever this Prower Command is; I want no part of it. Good day to you." The figure spun on its heel to see reinforcements on the other end of the tunnel.

There stood Sonic the Hedgehog, fully rested and ready to go. Although he looked different than what the figure remembered. He was taller; his quills were longer and were more ruffled. There were even some sign of wrinkles in the hedgehog's eyes. Could the speed demon finally being slowing down? "Hey, you!" Sonic said quickly and angrily. "You better get back there before go kick your !" Scratch that thought.

Next to Sonic was his wife, Amy. She had grown as well. She no longer looked like the annoying fangirl of her youth. Her quills were like human hair and were long enough to stretch to her waist. Her trademark pink dress and headband were replaced by a sterling silver battle suit. In her hands was the probably the biggest hammer he had ever seen in his life. That was saying something as he had seen her previous hammer. Beside her was Knuckles and Rouge who both had blaster rifles in their hands. He saw them all except Manic and Tails. They were probably at some computer controlling the situation from there. "Well, well," he said in a slow voice. "I'm touched. All of Earth's greatest hero's came out to capture me. But I simply have no time to be your custody." He turned again and pulled out the gun and fired at one of the droids. The bullet pierced through the droid head knocking it to the ground. He darted forward past the completely armor clad hedgehog and to his escape. He felt a hand grab his leg and he fell into the slime.

"You ain't gettin' away that easily, pal," said the cocky voice of Sonic.

The figure lost it. "YOU AREN'T MY 'PAL', FAKER!" he yelled.

Silence

Silence

Silence

He had just screwed up. He had had thirteen years where he had kept his mouth shut. And now he just screwed it up. He stood up and wiped his arms of with his gloveless hands. He out hands up to the hood and pushed it down.

There, in a ragged cloak, scared from head to toe, dirty, bloody, was the Ultimate Life Form. Shadow the Hedgehog was alive.

Everyone stood still. Their mouths hanging open. They all couldn't believe what they were seeing. Shadow was dead. This was impossible. Rouge, Jet, and Silver and even Tails who saw this over the video feed were in shock. They had all seen the factory explode with him in it. There was no possible way that even the Ultimate Life Form could have survived. Yet here he stood, like out of a memory, except for the multiple scars that stretched across his body, his gloves were long gone and blood that dripped from various places.

"Well," Shadow said huskily and out of breath, "isn't anyone going to say anything? If this is how you treat the dead, then I should probably stay alive more often." Shadow cracked a joke? How is that possible?

Even though you couldn't see it, Sonia had tears flooding out of her eyes. Without thinking about it or planning it, she ran up to the bloody Shadow and hugged him.

Shadow, not know who this was, rebuffed her. "Who are you, woman?" Before he could add another sentence to his mistake, a slap went across his face. The armored warrior pressed a button on her wrist and the armor started to slide, sheet by sheet off her body until it was sucked into a two long metal gloves, reveling Mrs. Sonia Hedgehog.

"You can be such idiot sometimes, dear," she said with tears of happiness streaking across her face. She pushed forward and gave him the passionate kiss since their wedding day. He melted into her, letting his entire pained being into the kiss. Even though they couldn't hear it, there was a couple of wolf whistles coming from the small crowd of Freedom Fighters. The married couple paid them no heed. They, after thirteen years of immense pain had finally been reunited.

Shadow felt better than he had in a _very_ long time. But he also felt his own consciousness slipping. He dared a look at his wife as their lips were still locked. His gaze became cloudy and he fell into darkness.


	7. Family Reunion

Now did any of you think that I would really kill him off? Shadow is my favorite character! Now lets have some family fluff!

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Chapter 6 Family Reunion

Shade pushed the hand that was trying to wake him away rather half-heartily. "I don't to go to school today, ma." The hand pushed him again. "Ma, five more minutes. I don't want to have to go to PE."

"PE?" said a deep and misty voice above him, "you count yourself lucky to get in shape so young."

Shade's eyes shot open. He didn't get up right away. He had heard that voice in the old home videos his mom had shown him. In each one of them he had heard that voice. He had memorized that voice as if it was his lifeline.

He slowly turned over to see the ebony and crimson fur of a hedgehog, but not any hedgehog, this one was special, not just heretical, but this hedgehog was his dad. Shade jumped out of his small bed into Shadow's arms. It took Shadow aback a bit but gladly returned the hug he received.

"Is this a dream?" Shade asked, tears freely streaming from his eyes. "Is this just wishful thinking?"

Shadow let his tears fall freely and shook his head. "No, son. I'm really here, and I always will be."

After all this time, after all this waiting, Shade had a father. The father he had wanted since he was born. And for Shadow, he now had the long awaited family he had prayed for. But it wasn't over just yet; He still had to see a thirteen year old girl.

Shadow was less nervous about facing his daughter than his son. He had expected his son to be angry with him about being gone. Instead he was overjoyed to have a father. Hopefully, she would be the same.

She wasn't asleep like her brother. And she wasn't in her room. She was in one of the rooms of the med center. She had come to see Tails' son Lucas, who had started bleeding largely from the wound that had been caused by him hitting lockers when a large Black Arms had hit him with its arm. Cosmo was the best doctor in the Freedom Fighters. And of course she would be in charge of making sure her own son healed. She had been surprised to see him alive when he had come up from the sewers. Thankfully all the children had been asleep when he had arrived.

When he looked into the room where Lucas was lying, he saw his daughter. She was the spitting image of her mother. The same color fur, same color eyes, her quills were even arranged the same way. There was a noticeable spot of Shadow's handiwork: there were red stripes that stretched across her quills. She was leaning on Lucas' bed talking with him. Shadow was immediately weary of the boy. Not that he didn't like his parents, Shadow knew both of them very well and thought well of both of them. But any boy who thought he could try and muscle his way on to Shadow's little girl was going to have another thing bloody well coming.

Shadow knocked on the door. "Who is it?' he heard Crystal say. She even sounded like her mother.

"Um . . . I need to speak with you Miss," he said trying not to reveal his identity. He even found speaking with her was just as difficult as speaking with her mother when he had discovered his feelings for her. "It's a matter of the greatest urgency."

She got up and walked out the door; her face obviously showing her confusion. "Yes? What is it?" she said to an empty hallway. A finger tapped her on the shoulder and she turned to see the hedgehog she had dreamt about seeing for years but had despaired at ever seeing. Here was her father. He was like out of a memory. But his scars were very noticeable and some of his fur had some bit of some flaky red stuff that she guessed was his own blood.

"Crystal," he said his voice deep and misty, "I know this not the way most children meet their male parents but will you forgive me for not being there?"

Crystal let his words sink in. Now that she thought about it, where had he been and why was he here now? She looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity of his words. They were pleading for her approval of him. That's not something you see every day. The Father apologizing to the child. That is very unusual. But hey, I'm not the guy to be deciding what's weird and what's not.

They the next few days were joyous and wondrous. Shadow's children introduced him to everyone he couldn't recognize and had been born after he had disappeared. Sonic was in awe by the time it was over. Shadow had smiled seven times in three days! That's a record! All the children were overjoyed to meet Shadow or Uncle Shadow as his nephews called him. He hadn't thought about having more extended family. But it was none the less welcomed. He kind of enjoyed the races he had with Sonic. He had missed the thrill of competition that came from beating his rival. A couple of times, Sonic's own son, Whirl. The kid was pretty good actually. Not fast enough to beat either of them but he was able to keep up.

The one thing that Shadow was having trouble with was connecting with his own children. After first getting over the shock of having children, he tried to find as much as he could about them. He would try ad spend as much time as he could with them. Shade liked to read some of the classics like '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea', 'Around the World in Eighty Days', 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' 'King Solomon's Mines', etc. He also liked to draw; he was an exceptional artist. Shadow saw a drawing of Comic Canyon and a brown cloaked hedgehog standing on a peak. He chuckled to himself as he placed the4 picture down and picked up to the next. Many more of them were of landscapes and of friends and family. There was one of Crystal sitting down listening to her iPod. It was a perfect copy of his daughter.

Crystal was more outgoing then her brother. She loved music and was a musician just like her mother. She could play either quick rock piano solo or a calming classical symphony. She was also an actress. She had done multiple shows which were on tape all for Shadow to enjoy. She was a brilliant drama actress. She usually played a heroin or at least some form of lead. He had to be proud of his little girl. He was proud of both of his children. And that was only the beginning.

Amazingly, Sonia had brought all of Shadow's old writings and placed them in a vault with most of his old stuff. Except his armory which was now a still under lock and key in a cave in Minnesota. An extra pair of gloves to replace the ones he had lost, a photo album containing all the pictures from his wedding day, even some of the things he had taken from his adventures with Eggman. He picked up some of the old pages he had written on and tried to get back on that long abandoned train of thought to finish the stories which he had started. For a few hours he sat in that vault just writing. But he knew would have to get out of that vault eventually. He would have to warn them of the danger.

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Please review!


	8. Where were you?

**Well here ya go, Folks! I know all of you who read this are wondering so here ya go. But rebember there is still World War 3 going on here.**

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Chapter 7 "Where were you?"

The limousine pulled up to the White House with absolute punctuality. They had arrived with absolute precision and now the Ultimate Life Form would be able to regale his story to the President.

Shadow, Sonia, Sonic, Tails, Cm. Sharon Loveless, and Cm. Robert Eclipse stepped out of their respected limos, went inside the building and through the search detail. The long hallways seemed like a flash in Shadow's mind. No he did not speed through them. That was not permitted. For thirteen he had to stare at the same three walls, these were nothing to him.

When they entered the Oval Office, the president had his back to them as he looked out the window. The rain pattered against the reinforced glass like the sound of mice chattering. Shadow looked at the President with anticipation. This man was the only president to be elected five times. Shadow could easily see that the stress of office had done to the man. His hair was a definite steel grey and he was even to start o go bald. He had not noticed them enter.

Cm. Eclipse approached the President and said his completely monotone voice, "Mr. President, Mr. Shadow Hedgehog and party have arrived for the meeting."

The President turned on his heel to face the party. His eyes themselves were full of the stress that the man was under but the rest of his face did it's best to hid this. He wore a jolly smile of an old grandfather meeting his grandchildren. 'Shadow, it is a joyous to finally see you again. After all these years, I fully believe that you had in fact died. I am delighted to find that I was wrong."

Shadow let lose one of his rare smiles. "You must have thought I was dead. It not usual when a living man gets own monument." The President laughed. "It is good to see you though my old friend." Shadow stretched his hand to shake the great man's hand.

The President grasped the hand without hesitation. "Although, I think I'm becoming too old to be doing this job." They each sat down in a chair. "Now, Mr. Hedgehog, regale us. Where were you? You've been gone thirteen years."

Shadow's smile disappeared. "Should have known what this visit was truly about. Well the best place to start this story would be at the beginning. As you all know my team and were sent to take out the Shadow Android Factory created by the Doctor. We found and entered the factory with minimal difficulty. What we found inside the factory was indeed androids, but also there were Black Arms soldiers. They were armed the same way the soldiers now are armed. The team split up to try to divide and conquer the invaders as we had done in the past. But the Arms had changed. They did use their favored mass strikes and were not confused by our separation and attacks. They immediately copied our movements and counter attacked. I had paired myself with Agent Prower and we lead them into a storage area for the android parts. My fellow Agent shot through the rope holding a large crate from falling and it landed upon our adversaries. But immediately following that, we were slammed down on to the hard metal floor. I looked up to see a draconic like figure with Black Arms skin, a long robe similar in design to the robe that Black Doom wore, it had three fingers, opposable thumbs, and claws, on his back were two dragon wings and in his hand was a large wooden staff with a blood red gem at the top. But what I looked at first was his eyes. They were blood red like mine yet were filled with more anger and fury than I've ever seen." Shadow paused. "Wait; there was one who had the same fury: Black Doom."

The entire room went cold at the name. Robert Eclipse took out a brief case and brought out a small holographic disk and placed in the middle of the floor space between them. He punched a button on the side and a picture of the exact image Shadow had described appeared. "This him?" Eclipse said with utmost confidence.

Shadow looked at the young Commander. "How did you get this?"

Eclipse smiled. "You'd be surprised what an experimental spy plane can dig up when our assailant is making his rounds. The new SR-103 was able to take this picture. I don't even think he knows that his picture is in our most wanted."

"Well," Shadow continued, "he raised his hand and a red orb appeared in his hand and fired at my face. The blast hit its mark and knocked me back into the wall. He spoke to me in such a cold voice I thought I had been plunged into a bucket of liquid nitrogen. 'You will not stand in my way, bastard child. This factory is consolation prize next to this planet. I will not be denied what I came for.' He raised his staff and an energy blade appeared out of the top of it. He and I battled while Agent Prower provided cover for me I think he shot down forty black Arms infantry. However my problem was this one Black Arms. He seemed to be able to block both my and Prowers' attacks. He not only used the energy blade but when I got far enough away, he would launch large waves of electricity. 'Sit still you infernal hedgehog,' he yelled at me in rage. 'You are only making it far more difficult on yourself.' He pulled all the electricity back and launched it at the main reactor of the factory. 'Let's find out of fast you truly are.' He then disappeared in a flash of light. I grabbed Prower and took him to the exit. I then went back and recovered the rest of my team. But I had forgotten something inside the soon to destruct factory. The red Chaos Emerald had been dropped during the fight with the dragon Black Arms. I went back into to the building to recover the emerald. I found it in the hands of the dragon Black Arms. He held it like it was a first born child. 'I thought you might want this, child. I believe that this too much of a dangerous object for such a child as yourself.' He rammed forward at me knocking me to the ground. My gold bracelet broke off in force of the blast. The next thing I knew, I was held in Black Arms restraints. From there on for thirteen years I was tortured for information. They used special whips that had spikes on them and they would wrap them around my body and then poison would be released out of the whips into my bloodstream. I was always weak. They were merciless. It was even worse since I was immortal as I've been told. Multiple times, I wished for them to end my life. But I wouldn't tell them anything. They asked countless about where the other Chaos Emeralds were. I never told them. But I hated every second I was there. They then took my most precious possession." Shadow pulled off his left glove to reveal his hand.

Sonic looked at the hand in utter confusion. "Uh . . . Cuz, What exactly am I suppose to be looking for?"

Eclipse sighed. "It what's not there, Mr. Hedgehog."

Shadow nodded. "My ring. They took my wedding ring."

The President spoke with complete sincerity. "We can replace the ring, Shadow."

"No," the Ultimate Life Form spoke firmly. "There will be no replacement. I want to pluck my ring from Umbra's cold dead hands."

Commander Eclipse broke into applause. "I am fully behind you, Shadow. I will help you bring him down, whatever the cost."


	9. Lucy! Revenge is Home!

Chapter 9 Lucy! Revenge is Home!

Shadow readied himself for battle. How fitting that after thirteen of torment he would now have the chance to avenge himself.

All around him was a comp of both GUN soldiers and inactive Prower Command robots. He, himself, was the commander of this operation. He had been chosen to lead this assault.

"Shadow?" said a voice through the Bluetooth in Shadow's ear as he loaded the magazine into his newly self-designed S-32 (Shadow-32, he planned to market it). "Shadow are you there?"

Shadow put his finger up to the answer button and replied, "Yes, Robert, I hear you loud and clear. My men are ready for whatever the hell you have us out in the middle of nowhere to do. Now what is you want us to do?"

A chuckle came through the speaker, "Well Shadow, you are to take out a Black Arms ammo dump that the scum have set up on the Prison Island. They have used all the old toxic waste into energy sources for the weapon coolers. In these coolers, are weapons being recharged. If the cooling is disrupted during the recharging, a massive explosion will take place."

Shadow smirked a bit. "Did your new spy plane get you this information? Or did Umbra just seem generous today?"

"If this wasn't the most secure line on the planet," Robert answered with a bit of an edge to his voice, "you could be _detained _for mentioning that TOP secret piece of technology. But be it as it may, yes. The new SR-103 took inferred and x-ray pictures of the base. A well placed C-4 will knock out the cooling system. I know that you and the Delta Force agents with you will be able to take out these systems. This mission is on the clock. Good luck, Eclipse out."

Shadow looked up to the camp that surrounded him. The Delta Force unites guarded the camp and activated the Prower Command droids. "Alright, everyone," Shadow called out into the ranks, "I have been contacted by GUN command. This mission is on the clock. Activate our friends from Prower Command." He waited to continue the briefing as the droids were activated. He was actually very impressed with the design of the droids. Tails had done an excellent in designing each one with a specific function and purpose.

The young fox was nothing now like he had been when he Shadow had seen him after the apparent death of his love Cosmo. The young fox was distraught to the say the least. After she had returned, Tails had told Shadow that he had contemplated suicide more than once. Shadow had add7 his two cents to the situation. He tried to console Tails. He had felt the knife of loss at his heart more than once. Tails had screamed at Shadow to leave or he would kill him. Shadow left that night without another word. Thankfully, later that night, the seed that Shadow and Sonic had regenerated from the remains from Cosmo and Dark Oak had become Cosmo once again. Tails became the chipper fox that Shadow knew and became a GUN agent to defend his world: in other words Cosmo. Now with these battle droids, Shadow would help Tails in his in devour and himself with his own.

The droids were activated and ready. The Delta Force soldiers were restless. The Ultimate Life Form was also. "Alright," he opened, "here's the line ups. Unite 1 your with me to take the south side. Unites 2 and 4 will take the east. And lastly unites 3 and 5 will take the north. This robotic platoon will join with another to be a distraction from the west. That will draw most of the enemy forces away from the targets. They are cooling tanks for the weapon recharging chambers. Command has sent the information to your PDAs. The digital shots that command has taken will be our guide into this territory. This is a first-class priority mission. Failure is not an option. Now let's go kick some lizard ass! Hue-ah!"

The camp roared with 'oo-rahs'. The men were ready to go.

"Shadow," said another voice through Shadow's Bluetooth, "my droids have engaged the Black Arms troops. My scanners read that they have left minimal resistance guarding the cooling tanks. You're ready to take 'em out. Just like the old days."

Shadow smiled a bit from the small cliff he was standing on. The Ammo dump was right below him, only ten feet. He could visually confirm Tails' report. "Yep, can see that. They don't expect me to return. We'll have this done in no time. You get those burgers on the grill. Me and my boys are gonna be hungry when we get don with this." A laugh could be heard through the Bluetooth. He punched the hang up button on the side and turned back toward his unit. "Alright, men. Let's get this over with. As you heard, the head of Prower Command is getting us some burgers. You want 'em? Then let's blow this place to Hell!"

He jumped off the cliff and proceeded to run along the once concrete walkway now turned to some concrete/bio-tech blob. He had put a silencer on his pistol. Yeah, it cut the accuracy of the gun a little but silence was needed more right now. If a guard heard the shot, he would alert the rest of the forces and the teams would be overwhelmed with Black Arms infantry.

He shot a Black Arms in the head. It dropped dead without making a sound. He knew that the Black Arms had a hive mind link so that all the others were getting was a bullet going through one of their soldier's heads. That would come up anything new. They were fighting a battle. Their guys were going to get shot.

He and his group marched through the base. They met little resistance. A Black Hawk or two here and there. Not really anything. Placing the C-4 in the cooling tanks. Not a soul saw them. Tails' droid s did their job and did it well. Like a good soldier. Although his insides were telling him that this was going all according to the plan. Nothing went exactly to plan. That was the way of things. Nothing was free. The C-4 was placed. He put his finger up to the Bluetooth and spoke into it. "All unites, have the objectives been successfully reached?"

There was a resounding "Yes, sir."

Shadow smiled grimly to himself. This was too easy. "Good. All agents, remove yourself from the premises to the camp to watch the fireworks. All droids use the smokescreens to escape the field. We're done here."

All together, the Strike Force PHALANX had successfully placed all the C-4 inside the complex. Beer, coke, and water were passed all around. The men pestered Shadow to press the button. But he would wait for confirmation from Tails that all his people had made it out. He looked to the west to see a flash of red light. The signal. "Alright, everyone," he called out to them. They stopped their chatting. "I have just received confirmation. All of our troops have escaped. Now, are you ready for it to be the 4th of July?"

There was a resounding 'hue-ah'. He smiled a little bit. In his head after watching too many _I love Lucy_ episodes, he thought to himself, _Lucy, Revenge is home and its best served flaming hot! _He flipped out the detonator. "Let's light this candle!" He slammed his fist on to the red button. Instantly, what had once been a horrible ammo dump had turned into a massive fireball. To further make fun of the Black Arms, the men made mocking 'ooo' and 'ah' sounds. He had to let out a small chuckle. This was huge strike in the Black Arms offensive. But he still had that feeling in the pit of his stomach that this had been far too easy. The Arms wouldn't let so few soldiers guard such a valuable foothold. Something was still out there. Something was just waiting for him to screw up.


	10. The Truth

Chapter 10 The Truth

Chapter 10 The Truth

Cm. Sharon Loveless marched out of the GUN Command bunker, a briefcase in one hand and a manila envelope in the other. A little bit behind her was a man with a mop of brown hair, and a black trench coat that stretched to his ankles. He smiled at her as they approached to the two waiting Apache attack helicopters. She could see the two reasons for his smile. Their wedding was only a month away. In one month's time she would be Cm Sharon Eclipse. She would still giggle at that dream. And the just recent attack on the Black Arms ammo dump. The commanding officer on the operation had been the newly promoted Brigadier General Shadow the Hedgehog. She had interview the General for his report on the attack. She could see he no longer had the zeal for the military. Once this was all over, she would make sure that Shadow got a nice quiet retirement from GUN. Robert however? No, no, no, no. He was military man through and through. He was one the brilliant unforeseeable men she had ever had the honor of knowing, let alone being the woman of his dream. He was on the list of great military geniuses such as George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sun-Tzun, Yamamoto, Stonewall Jackson Rommel and many more. But he also had the talent to have a charm and charisma that she had never seen from any man before except her father, who had long ago died in a tragic accident involving a storm, a car and a cliff. She didn't speech with her mother; they had a falling out with her years ago.

But she had started to notice some strange things about Robert. More than once she had seen him walk on the front of his foot and not let his back foot touch the ground. She just took it as he was double jointed. She had seen flashes of red dots inside the color of his eyes. And a cocky smile would form almost whenever you asked him a question. He was being totally out of character.

She entered the chopper with her items and saw Robert enter the empty pilot's chair of the other. He never trusted anyone but himself to fly him anywhere, whether it be from his home to the house only four feet away. He strapped himself in and gave a mock salute from the Apache. Before she could stop herself, a giggle escaped Sharon's lips. The pilot turned around to look at her, his visor up, his eyes the size of dinner plates.

Her face returned back to its stone cold figure. "What are you staring at?" she said coldly, "keep your eyes on the sky!' He turned back in his chair so fast he could have rivaled Shadow or Sonic. Sharon grabbed a newspaper out of her briefcase and began to make like she was reading. Actually, she was hiding the red on her face from embarrassment. A few years ago, her heart would not have allowed such a thing to happen, but now the steel walls that protected her heart had been breached by a certain GUN commander with a mop of brown hair and a black trench coat. He had brought out her loving side like no one except her father had ever done.

She looked at the manila envelope that Robert had given her. Upon it in big bold red print was **FOR PRESISDENT'S EYE'S ONLY**. What could Robert possiblyknow that she, his fiancé and co-head of GUN not know? And why only the President?

Shadow the Hedgehog impatiently paced back and forth in the Oval Office. He and his family had arrived for the meeting first, so he had enough time to almost wear out the rug under him by walking back and forth.

"Shad," said Sonia annoyed, "please sit down; you're driving me, Sonic and Manic crazy!"

He sat down on one of the pristine white couches between Sonia and Crystal, and was silently relived to do so. The Velcro shoulder pad he had been issued to show his rank had been wearing into his shoulder blades. Velcro! For all their intelligence, GUN command couldn't think of a better and more _comfortable _way of putting his star on him without it wearing out his shoulder.

He scanned the room to distance his mind from the pad. Sonic, Amy and Whirl sat nervously on the other white couch. Shade was talking with the President about his days in Vietnam. The President didn't mind regaling the youth with his war days at all. And Shadow really didn't mind his son pestering the aged man. At least he was relatively quiet except for the occasional question.

Manic, Sally, and Storm on other hand were far from quiet little angels as could be. Manic and Sally were trying to very loudly connect Prower Command to the White House with a laptop they had at their disposal. Storm was listening to his IPod, normally that would keep him quiet, but he had the sound up to deafening octaves.

You might wonder what all these people were doing in the Oval Office. They didn't. They had been called by Eclipse. He had announced to them that he had some information that could change the war. And he had I.D.ed each and every person he wanted in on the action. It was strange that he didn't call in the Joint Chiefs and why the children? But Eclipse was a strange man and had his reasons. Now all they had to do was to wait for Eclipse himself.

A rap of knocks came on the door. The door opened to reveal Cm. Loveless. "Sorry," she said monotone, "Am I late?"

The President shook his head, and returned t his tale of his time in the Vietnamese prison camp. Loveless sat down in a chair and placed a briefcase and a manila envelope to the side.

For fifteen minutes they waited. This was so strange. Eclipse was notorious for being punctual. He was never late. Like every event to him was important for a singular goal. Sonic and Whirl were the most anxious. If his wedding had been bad enough to wait at, Sonic looked as though he was about to pee his pants, which actually now wore blue jeans.

The President heaved a great sigh and said, "It seems Cm. Eclipse won't be arriving." He turned and faced Cm. Loveless. "The envelope if you please. I see it's for me."

She got up and handed him the envelope. The President took a small knife and cut the end of the envelope open and dumped its contents out. But the only item inside was a small business card. On the back was a symbol of a comet with four segmented lines curving a bit around the head of the comet, and an x in the center of the head. He flipped it over and read it. "I think you all may want hear this because I cannot understand it.

This charade is over. I deserve an Oscar for my performance.

Immediately after the card was read aloud, the video screen activated to show Cm. Robert Eclipse. "I see you have found the key, let me open the door." He said with a wicked smile. His facial features were different as well. His eyes were no longer dark brown but blood red, and his hair was combed straight back instead of flopping around like a mop.

"Eclipse," Shadow said angrily, "where are and why aren't you here at this meeting? You called it."

Robert's smile widened. "Of course. I was just waiting for you to touch the card. It transmitted a signal for me access an already positioned station where I could safely conduct my plans."

Sharon approached the screen fearfully. "Robert," she said her voice flooding with fear, "what are you talking about?"

"I've always wondered how you people can never see what right in front of you. I must admit, this work is my masterpiece. No one saw it coming. You were all puppets under the greatest puppet master of them all."

The President rose up from his chair. "Cm Eclipse," he said with utmost power and authority, "I order you to explain yourself. You call a meeting and decide to show by use of video conference? Why—"

"Silence, you child!" Robert spat. "My plans are far beyond your human understanding. But I believe this one gesture will show you all what I am." He brought up his left gloved hand. "I hope you enjoy the show," he said looking into the eyes of Shadow, "Brother."

The glove removed to show his left hand with a glint of gold on his ring finger. A very familiar glint of gold for Shadow. "MY RING!" he cried. Eclipse smile grew wider to reveal vampire like teeth. "HOW DID YOU GET MY RING?"

"Why, brother," Eclipse mocked Shadow, " I'm hurt that you don't remember me. I believe I will have to perform a demonstration." Suddenly the face began to morph and change. The grin soon became like a lizard barring it fangs. They eyes became silted like a cat. The pale skin soon became black, red and scaled. The Commander's trench coat soon morphed as well to a brown and red lined robe. The hair disappeared to be replaced by a crest and the hand soon lost two fingers and claws began to grow place of finger nails. He lifted into the hair to show his feet had become double jointed talons, so that he would walk on the front of his feet. Across the back of his neck and stretching past his chest was a golden chain with two golden images at each end: a comet and a star. And lastly in his left hand metalized a large wooden staff with a blood red gem at the top. There was no Robert Eclipse. There was only one. Umbra.

Umbra laughed a cold cruel laugh. "Do see now, miscreants of Earth? You are grand fools!"

Shadow remembered now. Umbra, the new leader of the Blakc Arms had taken his ring under the first of those horrible 'interrogation sessions'.

Sharon Loveless approached the screen more so; she still couldn't believe it, even though she saw the evidence before her. "Robert, please stop this—"

"Silence, you whore!" He spoke with utmost disgust. "You were just another puppet. And, there was no Robert Eclipse. There never was. There was only the son of Black Doom, the Puppet Master, Lord and Spawner of the Black Arms Empire, Conquer of Veldin, Coruscant, Azerath, Dakara, Geni, the Wraith, and many more primitive worlds and many other species., and lastly Brother of the Ultimate Life Form. I am Umbra Eclipse!"

Sharon Loveless collapsed onto the floor, crying softly. A crying as much as her persona would allow. "I have done things on this planet," Umbra continued, "that are disgrace to my kind and our way of life. But all my sacrifices and internal turmoil's have all paid off. My plans are all in motion. Thanks to my Brother," he waved his hand toward Shadow, who only glared, "your attack on the caused an explosion which unearthed an ancient Black Arms Weapon. The Eclipse Ray, which of course is what that dratted professor named his after. Mine will be able to rally the fleet behind me and we will soon be able to destroy you and your pathetic little band of resistance. My ships will come from every corner of the universe once the Ray is fired."

Shadow could not believe what he was hearing. How could he have been fooled so easily? Eclipse had used him for a doll to achieve his plans. He felt worse now inside than he had ever before. And HOW _DARE_ _HIM _call Shadow Brother! They may have the same blood. But that monster was no uncle to his children. Shadow pulled his son and daughter closer to him. They didn't say a word. He admired their bravery not to run or to cry. Probably they were just too stunned to be scared that a man they had all trusted with their defense had actually been the invader.

"Ah!" Umbra's smile grew wider to the point it went from ear to ear. "My niece and nephew! How wonderful! Aren't you glad you can finally meet some one from you father's side of the family?" He mocked Shadow in every word. Taunting him and baiting him. Of course his whole time on Earth had one big mockery. Shadow looked down to see their confused faces.

_Oh no!_ Shadow thought urgently. _She never told them where I came from. I hope they don't hate me for this!_ "No!" Shadow shouted to Umbra. "I forbid you tell them anything!"

Umbra brought up a rebuking finger and wagged it. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, brother," he mocked, "You never told them about your family? I feel left out! Now, children; your paternal grandfather is BLACK DOOM!"

In that moment, it was the worst minute of Shadow's life. Even worse than the brutal tortures he had to endure upon the Black Comet. At least he knew he had a family that loved him. Now he wondered if his children would ever love him the same way again.

The silence the room was unbearable. The children stood their looking at the moster on the screen with shock. "You're lying!" Shade yelled to the Black Arms puppet master. "There's no way Dad could be the son of a monster like Black Doom!"

Umbra shook his head. "You're wrong, boy. Your father is not only the Ultiamte Life form but an atrifical life form. He was created by Professor Gerald Robotnick using the blood of my father Black Doom. He may not look like one, but don't be fooled. Your father is one half hedgehog, and one half Black Arms. That would make you two ¼ Black Arms. Perfect."

Crystal looked at her hands as if expecting claws to jump out. Shade looked at his father with disbelieving eyes. "It isn't true is it, dad?"

Shadow didn't want to say it. He would have given his immortality if he didn't have to tell his son the truth. "I'm sorry, son." Shadow couldn't look his son in the eye. Shade's eyes began to fill with water and he buried his face in his father's fur. Shadow put his arm around his son and looked Eclipse firmly in eye, both their eye's full of hatred and disgust. "Why are you doing this?"

"You wouldn't tell him," Umbra said in a voice of pure innocence. "I just to it upon myself to tell my nephew and niece the true of our side of the family."

Shadow roared in fury. "_THEY ARE NOT YOUR NEICE AND NEPHEW! MY CHILDREN ARE NOT RELATED TO YOU! AND NEITHER AM I!"_

Umbra laughed. "You deny it but you know deep inside you that you're wrong. But I have no more time for pleasantries." His hand morphed into the human hand of Robert Eclipse, the ring clearly showing. "I believe it's time for you to finally say good bye brother."

Shadow was not fazed, "What do you mean?"

Umbra smiled. "You do not know where I am, do you? I am aboard the submarine U.S.S. Rhode Island. In the ballistics room." Umbra brought a key up to the screen. "Good day!" The screen went dead.

Shadow never felt more adrenaline in his life. He was not worried for himself. He could most likely survive the nuclear assault. But everyone else in here had nowhere near the same resilient genetic structure. He sped through the room grabbing the blue Chaos Emerald that sat in a display case. The President was on the Red Phone ordering an interception of the missile and an immediate search of the U.S.S. Rhode Island for Cm. Robert Eclipse. The others had pulled together, even Sharon Loveless who had been dragged to the center of the room. The President put down the Phone and gathered with the others. "Everyone!" Shadow cried. "Hold together!" He twirled the Chaos Emerald in the air, put his arm around Sonia's waist and yelled "CHAOS CONTROL!"


	11. Run Like Hell

Chapter 11 Run like Hell!

The Chaos Control had taken the group to the Prower Command Bunker. Wasting now time Shadow told everyone of what he and the others had seen in the Oval Office. There were many gasp when he told them Umbra had fired off a nuclear warhead.

"How could he get a hold of a nuclear missile?" Lucas screamed. Many of the children were extremely terrified. Shadow couldn't blame them. A nuclear assault was no laughing matter. Whirl, for all his bravery hugged on his mothers arm, petrified. Hurc sat by his mother, Wave, and his father, Jet, to try come up with a plan. Storm was pacing back in forth. He probably had been watching his Uncle Shadow too much. Shade sat next to Knuckles and Rouge's daughter, Emily, holding hands and trying to find strength from each other. Crystal was still looking at her hands silently set that her hands would sprout claws while sitting on a small wooden chair in a corner of the room. And Alana, who had been sick and couldn't come to the meeting, was sneezing yet her eyes showed the fear in her eyes.

The adults weren't taking it much better. Sonic had taken a leaf out of Shadow's book and was pacing like a madman. Amy, as she held her child, looked on the verge of bursting into tears. Cosmo pulled her son into a chair next to her; out of all the woman, she was the calmest, for she had already experienced death and it did not frighten her in the least. Sonia was nervously packing rounds into the magazine of her M-16A. Manic and Sally were at the Prower Commander Master Computer trying to send multiple viruses at the missile to send it to the Sun instead of reentering. Jet, even through his mask of calmness and serenity, showed a thought of never getting to fly again; he ran his scarred hand through his feathers and placed his other hand in the hand of his wife, Wave who had no trouble showing her fear. Espio and Vector were each hitting a punching bag. Charmy and Cream who were now married stood together, trying to kiss everything away. The only one looking entirely calm in the entire room was Omega-123. He had arrived from a recent battle with the Black Arms. Before the war, his job was to design weapons systems and test them for GUN. Of course the testing usually involved him trying to get past the system and end up demolishing it.

Shadow looked around the room to see a certain fox missing. Tails was nowhere to seen. Shadow looked into Tail's room to see the younger fox climbing out an old trap door. "Tails," Shadow said in his deep voice, "what are you doing in an old catacomb when we are about to struck by a weapon of mass destruction?"

Tails only ran to his desk and pulled out a small silver key. "I have a plan for this. I always had a backup plan." He went into the meeting room and snapped his fingers. All the despairing Freedom Fighters awakened from their state of desolation. "Alright, everybody!" the fox called into the crowd. "We're getting out of here and we're gonna we gonna surprise our newly realized enemy." He lifted their spirits ever so slightly. "No one but Omega may know this," he said with a bit of a smile, "but I have a Beta Site ready for our arrival as we speak."

Everyone stood up and approached him; their spirits were now in a symphony of delight. Shadow looked at Tails with a rose eyebrow. "Tails," he said completely ignoring the euphoria of excitement around him, "where exactly did you build this Beta Site?"

Tails smiled a little sly smile. "That will be a surprise. But I can tell you this: you have no idea how much work and money it took to keep it from being discovered by either GUN or Cosmo." He rubbed the back of his head guiltily as he stole a glance at his wife. Her eyes shot daggers at him for keeping the site secret. But still hugged him and planted a big lipstick covered kiss on him.

Tails lead them to his and Cosmo's room; they had already grabbed 'only the essentials', but the things in the vault, which included many of Shadow's things would have to stay. But being in a reinforced lead/titanium 2 feet thick vault they should be pretty safe from the radiation. Of course, Cosmo was embarrassed to have everyone come into her bedroom with a mess like this especially 

with the sheets all wrinkled and a bit wet. "It's from sweat!" she spat at Amy who asked and was notorious as a neat-freak. Cosmo turned beat red as she said it though. Tail's opened a trap door. He punched button down in the hole and an elevator platform rose up out of the hole.

"It took me forever to track this tunnel system," said the fox man. He directed Cosmo and Lucas aboard. They stepped on the platform. He pressed a button on the elevator. And Tail's wife and son descended down into a dark cavern. But as they went down lights started to activate. This process repeated again and again until only Shadow and Tails were left in the bedroom to await the elevator to come back up. "Alright, Shadow," General Prower stated monotone, "You're the last. I can fly down. You go." Shadow nodded and stepped on the platform. Tails hit the button and down the ebony hedgehog went into a lighted cavern at least a hundred feet below the base.

Down there he saw his friends and family staring at what looked like a giant platform with mammoth glass dome over it. There was a symbol on it that looked like the symbol of Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow smiled slightly as he saw the symbol and he knew that sign was driving his brother-in-law crazy. Around the colossal dome were robots that Shadow had never seen before. They were taller and looked like they have more powerful servos in their arms and legs. They did not have the more razor edge look to them like the GERALD class did. They were more rounded with large guns in opposable hands. They looked at the group before them with what looked like mild interest. Shadow landed on the platform with everyone looking at him and then jetting back and form between him and the insignia. "Don't look at me," he said flatly, "I've been gone for thirteen years."

They looked passed Shadow to see a two tailed fox hovering down to them. He walked straight passed Shadow and an agape Sonic. Grabbed his wife's hand nodded for his son to follow and pressed a button on the huge door of the dome. The dome opened and the Prower family stepped aboard. Tails clapped his hands and all the robots formed tow lines to the massive dome, but did not enter. They stood there waiting.

Sonic walked forward his family followed in suit. Soon all the Freedom Fighters, Sharon Eclipse, and the President were aboard the dome. Shadow looked inside it. While it may look simple on the outside, the bottom and the four massive beams that supported the dome were lined with large computers. All the computers seemed to show some form of geography: seismic activity, maps of the world, Black Arms strikes, and much more that Shadow didn't understand. He wondered if this was the Beta Site. A massive dome surrounded by giant robotic guards to protect it. Or maybe this was really the central nerve of the Prower command?

Tails grabbed a chair and stood above them all and spoke with command and authority. "Alright everyone, this is a transport for the trip to the Beta Site. This cavern extends far further than you could imagine. However these caves will also lead Umbra to our new location if he decided to make a house call and finds them. Therefore, as soon as the ARK is out of range, a explosive will detonate and seal this end of the cavern. I have done the mathematics, placed the bombs in the correct manner and placed just enough power in each one so that it will be a clean seal. There will be now damage to the base above us. No evidence that we ever survived the explosion that is soon to come." He pressed a button and the robots entered the dome and stationed themselves at one of the computers lining the bottom of the dome. Tails pressed another button and small cubicles rose up from the floor. "This dome has the ability," continued Tails, "to fit at least three-hundred people either human or anthro. There are small beds for one person each, but they can be stretched for two," he added with a smile.

Everyone took a bed, and the married couples took one together. Shadow, however, stood instead of resting. He would guard with the robots. He felt like he didn't deserve to sleep. How could he have been so blind? The signs were all there. The sadistic nature, the walking on the front 

of the feet, the convenient information leaks from the Black Arms? They all pointed to it, but Shadow couldn't see it.

A soft and warm hand was placed on his shoulder and it made his stomach churn. He looked to see Sonia, her emerald eyes gleaming under the lights of the dome. "Shadow," she said in her caring voice, "it's not your fault. How could anyone know? No one can be blamed. If anything, Robert—Umbra—Eclipse, whatever he calls himself should be the one to blame for all this. You have nothing to brood on. Come to bed."

As she said that the massive dome started to move. Sonia lost her footing and fell in to Shadow's arms. It is remarkable how much she looked like a teenage girl when she was embarrassed for her face went beat red.

Just some things never change.

Even if you need to run like Hell.


	12. The Journel

Chapter 12 The Journal

Chapter 12 The Journal

The dome moved at unknown speed to Shade as he tried to sleep. He had too many things on his mind to do the latter, however. He tossed and he turned as he tried hurling the thoughts out his head. Umbra. Umbra was his uncle. He didn't want to accept it, would you? A demon from Hell who had tortured his father for thirteen years and was the son of Black Doom who was the evil dark overlord of the Black Arms? How could he accept that? His dad wasn't part Arms! His father was one of the most admirable men he had ever seen. There was no way that his dad or he, or his sister was even one-trillionth Black Arms.

Then there was Emily. This was a side of himself he was fearful of. How could he be good enough for her when there were guys like Hurc, Whirl, and Storm around? How would she even know he existed? She had probably mistaken him for Whirl or Storm when she sat by him.

Across the room, his father got up from his bed, without so much as touching his wife. He walked over to an empty computer terminal and began to type hiss thoughts on it.

_November 9, 2020_

_I hope this record is preserved. I am Shadow the Hedgehog, husband to Sonia the Hedgehog and father to Shade and Crystal the Hedgehogs. I now know the truth. My tormentors face and name has been revealed to me. Umbra Eclipse has revealed himself behind the shroud of Cm. Robert Eclipse. I feel totally incompetent. How could I let the sign escape me? Sonia has told me to not blame myself, but I do. If I had seen what was coming I could have stopped the bombing. Now, as my family and friends escape Prower Command in a tunnel, I think of how many times I felt the sting of the whip whose scars I still wear, but not for decoration. They sting with reminder that I have failed. I have even __helped__ Umbra by releasing his array to which it will call the entire Black Arms fleet to our front door. Now with the destruction of the Prison Island, the array can be set up to seal our fate. _

_Even though I will fight to the bitter end, I place the thought that has been pondering me. I feel spread. I think I am getting older. I believe my curse of immortality is finally coming to a close. I may live to a ripe old age, I may just be eternally youthful, I may be both. Only time will tell if we survive this ordeal. I believe that the poison that the Black Arms inserted into my blood stream tampered with my genetic signature. Thirteen years of it may have been enough to tamper with my immortality. Or it may just be the fact that I'm worried about my children. I suppose I'll find out soon enough. _

_As I travel this tunnel inside this massive dome I believe is of the namesake of the ARK, I can't not help but think but how my life has changed ever I awoke in Prison Island. Then I was only the Ultimate Life form, but I was alone. I had nothing other than my revenge. I had no one to love or love me in return except for Maria, whom I still mourn, but I do not cling to the past. Only a year later I had to fight Black Doom and his demonic empire. I began not only question myself but also where I stood in relation to my friends. Should I take the path filled with darkness but lead to light of answers, should I take the middle road, a full formed shade of grey, or should I take the course filled with light but may lead my to no answers than when I began? The puzzle swam before me, and the pressure of the war, my friends and the answer holder, Black Doom, did not make things any easier. Thankfully I chose light and I earned the answers I sought, but they made me wish I had never found them. They showed that Black Doom's blood had been used in my creation making him my biological father. And now I see that Umbra Eclipse is my biological brother. But, that does not mean I accept him as my true brother. I would rather have Faker as m true bother, or even Omega. _

_After that, I found care and compassion in the most unlikely place: Sonia the Hedgehog, Sonic's sister. She could understand me better than anyone. She didn't see me as some form of monster bent on destroying the universe. She even told me later that I was a lonely person trying to find his place in a cruel and unforgiving world. Pretty quickly, I'd say, we fell-head-over-hells for each other. I won't go into the mushy details for those of you without discretion, but I will say that we were frequently going out and we soon became inseparable. My love for her soon hit an epiphany and I proposed to her. She accepted with much 'enthusiasm', if you call screaming in joy and kissing me to death enthusiasm. _

_The two years we lived together as man and wife were tremendous. I had never felt so alive and loved, in more ways than one. We became the other side of our lover's heart. But all good things must come to an end. My team and I were sent to take an Eggman android factory. During the mission we discovered Black Arms at the factory. Umbra was there and he was able to defeat me. But not before I made sure my team was gone. He brought me aboard his Black Comet and for thirteen horrendous years I was tortured. I will admit to you, who are reading this report. I was afraid. I was afraid that I would never get to see the smiling face of my own child. That I would never be able to look into those soothing green orbs of my wife. They say that only thing we have to fear is fear itself. I saw fear in a form that has left its mark in the form of scars that stretch most of my body. Then I knew this to be impossible, but I wanted to die. As the whips with poison filling the thorns that lay all upon it, reopened my wounds and filled me with the throbbing pain, I wished to whole heartily die. I had no fear of death. I still don't. Death is a natural part of life. We should rejoice for those around us who leave this world and go onto a better place. Mourn them do not, miss them do not. And I wished to join that __**FAR**__ better place than what I was in then. _

_Now, as far as my children go, I couldn't be happier. My son is a very intelligent young man, who cares for his family and friends more than anyone I have ever seen. He has the ability to forgive that is one area I am sorely lacking. But I also see a girl on the horizon: Emily, Knuckles and Rouge's daughter. I will have to see to this, but I don't want to be portrayed as the villain. But as for my daughter, she to is a very intelligent young woman and I see a bright future for both of them if we win the war, but with emergence of Umbra, it will be difficult. But back to my daughter. I, again, see a love relationship. The son of Tails and Cosmo is the unlucky party this time. He will have to watch where he steps for he already walks a __very __fine line. _

Shadow chuckled a bit as he wrote that last line. He could already see Lucas sweating a few years later when Lucas came to take Crystal out and he sat with Shadow in a living room as Crystal put the finishing touches on herself. The whole situation reminded him of that country song _Cleaning this gun. _They could go and have their fun but Lucas would have to remember that Shadow would be waiting up for them to return a cloth in his hand whipping his S-32.

A crash shook the massive dome. Shadow was roughly awoken from his thoughts and fell to the metal floor. "The nuke!" Shadow yelled to Tails who sat up in another computer chair. "How many of the warheads hit?"

Tails turned his chair and looked at Shadow, his face filled with sadness. "Only one, but that one just missed us. They hit Prower Command."

Everyone could no longer sleep. They had just missed an attempt on their lives. Which was something the children were having a hard time to digest this fact. Shade sat in a computer chair but he did not work on the computer. He just sat there staring into his own hands. He looked out of the corner o his eye to see an unfinished document. He bagan to read what the last user had left.

_November 22, 2020 _. . . .

Shade finished reading his father's thoughts. He could barely believe it. Hi father had been . . . scared? Shadow the Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life form had been scared? How could this be? Nothing scared him! He had faced off against Black Doom and beat him. You couldn't beat Black Doom if you were scared. How could he have survived Umbra's brutal torture if he had been scared? He just couldn't believe it.

He searched the room for his father but he saw him talking with Omega. He could see the anger in his father's eyes and Shade knew that talking to him now with his father in such fury would be a horrific idea. Instead he searched for someone who could hopefully make his day a bit brighter than the horrible dusk it was in now.

He saw the girl he was looking for. Emily was sitting in a little cubicle holding little stuffed bear tight against her body. She was a bat like mother. The spitting image of her mother, her albino white fur, her sky blue eyes. But she was her own person. She liked more rock than her mother. But the thing that really stood out from her mother's side was the fact that when she was a baby no matter what type of playpen you got her in weather it be a run of the mill store bought pin or a vault with lasers and robotic sentries, she could escape. She had even out maneuvered Tails, the Chaotix, Manic and even her own mother. But she didn't look like the spunky bat she normally was. She looked so frail right now. She seemed to be in her own world trying to escape the horrible revelation that been made open to them, with only her teddy for company. "Emily?" Shade said as politely as he could.

She gasped and put her teddy behind her back. "Shade!" she gasped, her face becoming distinctly red, "what is it?"a

"I was just coming to see if you were ok," he said, a little of the red embarrassment creeping along his face. "You know . . . the bomb . . . Umbra." He knew then he shouldn't have said that for she burst into tears. "OH! Emily I'm so sorry! I'm an idiot."

"No,' she said through her tears, "it's just that I'm worried about you."

Shade stepped back confused. 'Me? Why would you worried about me? I'm safe in the dome with you. This thing is suppose to be moving. I don't know where it's taking us but we're safe. Why me . . . ?" he stopped his voice before he said those deadly words.

"Because," she said quietly, "Umbra is your uncle. I didn't know how you were gonna handle having an alien for an uncle?"

Shade sat down on the bed next to her, his face set as stone, "As my dad said, Umbra is not family. He is a monster. He may have the same blood as dad, sis, and I but he is not family. He's a villain, just like Eggman, just skinner and doesn't have a strange fascination with a breakfast food," Shad w smiled as Emily giggled at his joke. "I just know we can handle whatever sort of disaster Umbra sends our way." Shade felt something warm under his hand. He looked down to see that his hand had moved onto hers and they were talking. His face was as red as his quills. "Emily . . ." his voice trailed off as he leaned in and she did as well.

"Shade," she sighed his name. She leaned in with him and their lips were now only centimeters away.

"Hey, Shade, I think you should—" Hurc stopped dead in his tracks as he beheld the scene before him. "Oh! Sorry!" He dashed away with speed like Shadow or Sonic.

Shade looked back at Emily. Her face was red with embarrassment. He got up trying not for anything else to happen. "I gotta' go," he said hastily before she could even respond. He ran.

Before he knew what had happened he was on the other side of the dome, beside his mother. Her eyes were wide with shock. He had finally found his speed.

Shade abilities were starting show themselves.


	13. Beta Site

**Hey everyone! Well here we are. I hope this reveals a little more light and I throw a monkey wrench into the equation. ENJOY! And Please Review!**

Chapter 13 the Beta Site

As the dome sped through the underground, Shade trained with his father. He was more than fast. After Shade's embarrassing incident with Emily, Shadow had Omega scan Shade and Crystal. Both of them had inherited his Chaos energy and speed and their mother's strength. These abilities had just remained dormant until their bodies were strong enough to handle them. Now he could teach them how to combat the Black Arms.

"Shade, you need to focus," his father urged. "Reach out for the energy and let it flow through you." Shadow stood by and watched his son try to access the potent deadly energy Shade had had a little success in summoning his power, he had large reserves so he didn't have to worry about running out; his problem was sustaining it. He could grab the energy but it enjoyed slipping out of his fingers.

"Chaos Control!" Shade yelled inside the dome, and closed his eyes dreading the results. He opened them to see a frozen world. Everyone was moving so slowly that they might as well be standing still. "This is amazing" he cried into the motionless world. "I could do anything I wanted and no one would be the wiser!" Shade sped up beside his father. Strapped to his side was the S-32. Shade looked at a powerful weapon with a mischievous glint his eyes. He has always wondered what it was like to feel the titanium grip and the sensation of the cartridge blasting out of the barrel.

Shade put his hand forward to grab the matchless gun. That's when, once again, the Chaos power slipped through his fingers. A hand leisurely rushed forward and grabbed Shade's hand. 'Not bad, son. But no cigar."

Shadow trained with his children more and more as the dome sped through the underground passageways. According to Tails, they had been traveling underground for five days. Not anybody could tell to begin with. And from their contact on the surface and the remaining satellite data streaming towards them, they discovered that now that Umbra had revealed himself, he using ever possible advantage he had gained from his time as Robert Eclipse. Not only had Prower Command been bombed, but every GUN bunker had been raided one after another. Most of the land lost to GUN had once again reclaimed and soiled by the Black Arms banner. Much of Asia was no under the control of the mad space demon. Europe still fought holding the Arms much at bay, but most of Africa was now the largest portion of the world under the Enemy. But America still stood, though badly wounded, still fought with rage and fury that the young country had never revealed to the world. Their were men left and right all joining together to join GUN and fight off these invaders on not only American soil but these monstrosities had dared to even set claw on Earth.

But even down here with his family, Shadow felt useless. His family was safe from the danger of his brother, yet he could not sleep anymore for now he saw the mangled bodies of soldiers he could help but instead he remained down in the second ARK. He could not bear it. The effects of his internal struggle showed themselves in his appearance and stamina. Huge bags were under his eyes. He was unusually tired, something Sonia had not failed to miss. And he would come to bed at night instead would sit at a computer terminal and would work on some project that was only known to him. When asked what he was doing, he was just say that he was writing a letter.

The dome suddenly stopped and everyone except Shadow and the robotic sentries was thrown out of their sleep and most of them onto the floor. There were strings of curses that followed most of them coming Cream which surprised everyone. She was usually so quiet and now see saying that Tails is a #!& )(&. Surprising no? Shadow sighed and gave a knowing look over to Charmy who had never been so scared in his life.

Shadow walked past the rather scary scene over to his wife who stood there with her eye twitching. Shadow smiled slightly and kissed her on the forehead. She immediately jumped out of her state of shocking bliss. She looked up to her husband and once again blushed like a teenage girl. "I wish you would stop doing that," she said muttering. "I feel so embarrassed."

Shadow let out a chuckle and whispered, "You look so beautiful when you're embarrassed." He kissed her and Tails ran right past them to the door of the dome.

A whistle rang throughout the dome, Shadow and Sonia broke their embrace and Cream stopped screaming. "Everybody!" Tails shouted. "We're here! Right outside this Plexiglas window is the base. Please step lively." Tails pressed a button and the glass slid apart to expose the Beta Site.

Everyone stepped out to see the technological wonder that they beheld. All around was stainless steel machinery that looked at least twenty years ahead of its time. All smooth and curved. Like something from an old depiction of the future. Similar robots to the ones inside the dome marched into lines to form a pathway to a single chair. All of them together looked like a formidable force. Ready to destroy whatever got in their path. The base was vast with hallways and robotic workers moving machinery and operating terminals.

"Welcome everyone!" Tails shouted to them, St. Petersburg, Russia."

Everyone turned to him. Did he just say what they think he said? "RUSSIA!" Vector yelled at the fox. "What the hell is the base doing in RUSSIA?" There were more mummers of agreement. _Why Russia?_

Tails had a bit of a lopsided smile. "None of you recognize this place do you?" He waved his hands around as if trying to signify some great truth. "This is the Shadow Android factory where Shadow first fought Umbra. I rebuilt it from the bottom down. The Russians left the rubble from the explosion to honor the great warrior who 'died' here."

Shadow chuckled a bit and started to let his eyes explore as much of the base that he could see. He looked over to a left wall to see a bunch of cryogenic containment tubes. Under some of the ice that had frozen over the glass, he could see red and black quills. He chuckled again. Eggman could never make a perfect replica. All around were even more pieces of advanced technology. Many Black Arms weaponry but others that looked man/anthro made but was far beyond what he knew. Even with his birth place being the Space Colony ARK, he still recognized little of the machinery. "Tails," Shadow spoke softly, "under all this, how are we going to conduct a counterstrike against Umbra?"

The color drained from Tails face. "That's what I've been working on its just hit a snag that I know that you won't like. You see, when we lost Prower Command 1, we also lost many many robotic soldiers. The ones here are extremely powerful for they were designed by me and Omega, but there are simply not enough of them. We need all of Prower Command 2 to assist with the counter assault." Tails' eyes wandered through the children. "They need to learn the ropes."

There were many sounds of rebuking this idea. "They're too young!" "They don't stand a chance out there!" "The Black Arms would eat them for breakfast." These were just a few of the chidings of the idea.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Tails answered, "but there is no other way. Besides, many of us started fighting Eggman before we were even their age."

There was another mummer of agreement. But Shadow ceased them with slamming his fist on the wall. "Yes, Tails, but Eggman is not as cynical, sadistic, malicious, or psychotic as Umbra Eclipse. Black Doom could only match his cruelty. I should know. We can't send the children out there. To do that to them would be the same as torturing them ourselves. They won't go out there!"

**Well everyone? How am I doing? Good? Bad? Ugly? **

**Here's the reply to last time's reviews.**

**Koike-Thanks, I hope my story makes somebody happy. Could you send me a pic of those shoes? Who doesn't want Shadow's air shoes? They're remarkably cool!**

**Sara- Thanks. In our extremely messed up world we live in I'm actually extremely surprised that no one has made an anthro hedgehog with incredible powers. But when I started this fic, I had not intended to have the children enter. They sort of jumped on the wagon along with Umbra and Sharon Loveless. It originally was just going to be a Shadow/Sonia fic, but as everyone knows, everything one starts, doesn't come out the way it was planned.**

**XT-421- I love the way you put that! "A sparkle of a single star in the depths of midnight... this is the kind of stuff that pulls people out of depression and into happiness amidst the end of the world..." That is so beautiful. I see why your stories are so full of romance now. You have a gift to put the word together as a glorious fabric instead of a beaten steel chain like many of our profession. I wish there were more in the trade that had that. And as a great man once said, "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." J. R. R. Tolkien. I foresee you going into a powerful journey that will show us your true talent. Good luck to you and you have my thanks for the review.**

**Ok, all of you who would like to be on this list . . . Please Review! I implore you! I like to feel loved. Just kidding, you don't have to love me, but you can review. **

**See ya'll next time!**


	14. A Few Reckless Actions

Chapter 14 A few Reckless actions

Needless to say, Sonic and the children were not happy being stuck inside the Beta Site. Tails, Shadow, Omega, Loveless, and the President were still in the process of making the counter attack. Which meant Sonic, the Blue Flash, was bored out of skull. What was worse that the children had started their own plans, but had decided to keep 'Uncle Sonic' out of it. Even his wife couldn't find anything they could do that was appropriate with some many people around. Their rooms had not been yet assigned so Sonic was denied an enjoyable evening with his wife.

"When are they going to be finished in there?" Sonic yelled to no one in particular. The 'Siege Committee' had locked themselves in the War room. Shouts could be heard if you listened for them. To the well trained ear they sounded like a deep misty voice ready to bite someone's head off so fast they wouldn't know their head was gone.

"Sonic," Espio said in his calm voice, "patience is a virtue. They wouldn't have said that if it weren't true. _So_, have some and you'll get through this boring spot much easier."

"ARGGGGGG!" Sonic yelled into the metal hallways. "I know the saying Espio! It just that . . . they've been in there for at least three hours. From what I hear, Tails want us to train the kids, Omega wishes to use the Shadow androids, Loveless wants to blow up the Black Comet and if this were a reality show, she would have beeped a lot of times when she described Umbra, Shadow refuses to let the children be sent into harm's way, and the President is open for anything that can prevent Umbra from taking any more ground. Moreover, it's just mass chaos in there and I'd like to see get sorted out so we can do something!"

Sonic got his wish. The steel doors blasted open and an ebony hedgehog stormed through, his face showing his rage. "_**YOU IMBECILES, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT IT WILL ONLY END IN ATROCITY? YOU MAY SEND YOU OWN OUT THERE BUT MY CHILDREN WILL STAY!"**_

The sound of Shadow yelling and cursing his fellows of the Siege Committee could be heard through the entire base, even over Cream in one of her mood swings stopped dead. No one had every heard Shadow this angry before. Calm he was dangerous, annoyed, he was deadly, angry, the world shall burn.

The Chaos energy that flowed through the fuming hedgehog started to interfere with the equipment. Radios couldn't pick up with all the power radiating from him. A small carrier-bot rolled by and it began to malfunction and then it was crushed by some unseen invisible hand. Shadow noticed nothing he had one goal in mind. One and one only.

In the main hall, laying about in a circle were the teens trying to figure a way to help the fight. Shadow could here his son and Lucas speaking above the rest.

"Guys," spoke Shade, his voice firm, "we can't sit around and do nothing! I know our parents are protective of us. They always have. But we can't let that stop us. We have our parent's abilities maybe even more. Why shouldn't we go out and fight?"

"Because," Shadow yelled out the rebelling children, "if any of you think you can fight your sadly misguided!" The small teens turned around to see the dark hedgehog standing over them with a look on his face that would make even the most ferocious beast cower in fear. "This is no game you're suggesting son. There are no extra lives or restarts, you either get GAME OVER or you win. This is serious. This is war. I know. I have seen the blood that has spilt. Many of men and women who were under me fell because I wasn't smart enough or fast enough. I saw them bleed the blood that they had just begun to let flow. And I have had to live with the same pain they endured in my own mind. Can you do it? Can any of you handle the fact that many of you might never return? There are no rules in war. No boundaries to protect you. _**War is Hell!**_ You may think I'm harsh in its description. But it is true. You want to enter the war because you want feel heroic. But let me tell you something: there is an extremely fine line between being heroic and reckless. Being heroic cost lives. Being reckless will cost all of your comrades' lives. Always in war there is death. And I don't want the last few people in my life gamble away theirs by trying to be a hero!"

The Ultimate Life form stalked away. The teens' mouths stood agape. They could not believe what they had heard. Uncle Shadow had told them off. They usually never heard him do much over a single sentence a day. But it less than five minutes, he had given longest speech of his life and it had hit their hearts hard. The way he had described it had put images of their brothers, sisters, girlfriends, boyfriends, torn in a bloody mass. This picture did not set well with them especially not Lucas or Shade.

Tails had designated everyone a room. Though Shadow's speech was still on his mind, Shade decided to help anyway. He could see the risk clearer now. He would give his life for this cause. He now had even more to fight for. As he pack, he kept seeing a albino bat in his head. He silently cursed himself for allowing his stupidity to allow that he didn't kiss her. How could be such a coward? Now he would prove to himself that he could be brave.

He packed a backpack full of cloths, food, water, a dagger he had snuck from the armory, a tinder box, a GPS, a radio, a cell phone and an iPod, just in case. He had found that the GPS from this place had an exact map of every floor. He had found and elevator that let the soldiers out for battle. He had sent Lucas a text that he would. Lucas would be going with him, along with Whirl, Storm, Crystal, Emily, and for some strange reason, Uncle Sonic were all coming. Hopefully they could get out before dad, mom, or Aunt Amy found them.

He pressed the button and his door slid open. He dashed into the hall and sped his way toward his comrades' rooms. Lucas was ready and standing. The others weren't as prepared. Crystal was frantically searching her pack for anything she might have forgotten. Whirl was just listening to his iPod inside his rooms so they risked being caught for a fell five minutes before they had to hack through the lock and pull the headphones out of his ears. Storm was stuffing as much food into his pack as it could hold. He explained it them as he had a nightmare the night before in which they all died from starvation and he was determined not to let that happen. Emily was trying on a variety of mask to hide her features from Umbra. Many of them were manga based, but a couple of them were normal like a ski mask and some camouflage face paint. And lastly Uncle Sonic was nowhere to found. They pressed on without him and headed to the elevator. And, wouldn't you know it, Sonic was hiding inside the elevator waiting for them. It was time for the New Freedom Fighters to take center stage.

**Hey! So how'd I do everyone? This was a bit of a difficult chapter to write. I was trying as much as I could to show to these little munchkins that war is not a play thing and shouldn't be taken lightly. As William Tecumseh Sherman said "War is Hell!" Believe it! Oh, and for the rest of the stories on my profile that I haven't been able to update on, they are not one shots and they will be updated as soon as I can. It's just school and other factors that make updating this story hard enough. **

**And now for the reply column.**

**XT-421**- **HA! I got you! You said specifically that your creation XT has no gender and you XT so you just contradicted yourself! Just kidding. I couldn't resist putting that in. And if you like vampires you should try the original vampire thriller: Dracula!**

**Koike-** **Thanks. I would to have those air shoes so I could out run my friends and then say that I'm really Shadow! MUHAHAHAH! All Hail Shadow!**

**Oh! And before I forget, all of you people who read this, if you have **_**anything **_**you want ask me, you may do so. You don't have to be a member of to submit a review. **

**Until Next Time!**


	15. Blood Relatives

Hey I'm back

**Hey I'm back! Sorry for the long wait but there was a lot to fit into this chapter.**

Chapter 15 Blood Family

Shade and his companions exited the elevator shaft they had been in for the past five minutes. The door had revealed a vast forest on the outside of St. Petersburg. Shade could see explosions over the city. "Uncle has begun," he said simply. They marched through the forest and found themselves over a ridge overlooking St. Petersburg. Shade looked below them to see marching Arms with massive cannons and what looked tanks. He looked up into the sky to see a large winged figure being silhouetted in the moon light. A laugh rolled through the battlefield. Shade shivered at the laugh as its cold grip pierced his heart. A hand flowed its way into his and he griped tightly. He didn't have to look back to know who it was who was holding his hand. He knew the moment she touched him. He also knew that his face was probably red as blood, but thankfully it was so dark and the action below him, no one would've noticed.

"Shade," said the soft voice of the owner of the hand he now held in his.

"Hmm," he replied.

"I know your strong, but," she stuttered a bit, he could hear her fear and feel everyone else's, "h-how do w-we take down that." Her free hand bought up a trembling finger to the silhouetted monster.

Shade griped her hand tighter as if in some protective gesture. "Don't worry," he said reassuringly though in his mind he had no clue, "Black Doom could be killed, so I'm sure that his son can be killed." He felt himself choke on his own words. There were two sons of Black Doom. If Umbra could be killed, that meant . . . Shadow could be killed too.

Umbra stood atop a spire of the Church of the Savior on Blood. With this spot he didn't have to waste energy flying and he could easily have a tremendous vantage spot for the entire siege. He enjoyed being back in his real body for a change. All that white skin instead of his glorious scales that could rip some of that skin off a human with just one rub. Flat teeth instead of his daggers which were his teeth. A bare back instead of his godly wings of which he could soar and be freer than any human. And flat feet instead of his double-jointed ones that allowed him to slip by any unwanted guest. And his staff with its own gem that gave it power, like a Chaos Emerald with so much power, but it could not produce that much power. Yet still, the gem in his staff could supply him with more than enough power to deal with these simple humans. But it did not suffice to power the Eclipse Ray. That would need something with a bit more kick: a Chaos Emerald. But not just one. He would need all of them to take what he wanted. He knew that one was held in a vault in an old Soviet Armory that had been locked down for years, at least that's what people thought. During his time as Robert, Umbra found the location of every Chaos emerald except the Master Emerald. Six of the Emeralds were on this planet, and the last one, the red one was safely secured aboard the Black Comet.

Thankfully, that annoying brother of his was finally out of the way. He should have gotten rid of him all those years ago, but he had needed to mix Shadow's blood and his own to try and revive his father. Unfortunately, Shadow's full power had been locked by losing one of his golden bracelets at the factory and blocking his power behind a wall of thick stone. So he could not complete the process of returning the Overlord of the Black Arms to glory.

Of course, it was too bad Shade and Crystal had to go up in the explosion along with the rest of Prower Command. Umbra knew they escaped the White House for he felt the Chaos energy radiating from the place. But no such surge had been felt again from Prower Command. No, it would be impossible even for that idiotic brother of his to survive one of these human's nuclear weapons, let alone his children. Bu they could have been useful. An epiphany of usefulness.

Umbra felt a tug at his mind; he looked down to see some Russians holding their stand with their new AK-89s. They were decapitating his Black Arms infantry with their weapons and their artillery was also proving a strategic annoyance. He lifted his staff and let energy from the gem at the top and let the energy flow into his other hand. Lightning crackled in his hand and pointed it down toward to the Russian infantry. "I hope they installed that set of lightning rods I told them about," he said smiling a sly smile. The lightning arched from his hand to the ground where it did not disperse as normal lightning does, for since this town had just experienced a rather nasty rain fall and the streets were full of water.

The Russian contingent was struck dead with the thousand bolts of electricity. But that was only a small squad. The entire force of the Russian military that was here was vast. And there was no telling when Russia's allies and GUN would arrive to aid the assaulted nation. He needed to find some clue of where exactly in the city the Amory was so he could move on and find the other—

_What's this?_ he inquired. He looked all around. He knew that feeling. It was the unconscious tug of half Black Arm at the mind link. He had felt that whenever he was around Shadow or his children. _**WHAT**_**?** How could this be? That blasted nuke had detonated right above Prower Command which is what it programmed to do. Nothing could have survived the blast which he had even modified the missile so no counterattack could take it down. There was no where a flaw in his plan. He had been preparing it for fifteen years. And yet he could feel the familiar tug at his mind. As the humans say, his blood was at it boiling point. All that time and energy wasted to design a program that would block earth radar from being able to find and track the missile. Now, as once again he felt that abominable presence in his mind. _How dare they survive! It took me fifteen years on this #&(# planet to design this plan! How Dare they! I will take a less subtle approach now. _And a Russian officer on the ground saw a large bat like creature soaring from the top of the Church.

The New Freedom Fighters sped through St. Petersburg. Now Shade and the younger Fighters saw the true atrocities of war. The city was decimated by the continus assault of the Arms all that they could here was fire, machine gun fire, roars and screeches of the Black Arms, the sound of lightning and men screaming. What sort of monster would do this to this beautiful city? Of course he knew they answer. Only one such as Umbra could take such pleasure in laying waste to the proud city. _But what is he looking for?_ That was the question that plagued both Sonic and Shade. Black Arms tactics showed that they preferred fast warfare where they would attack and destroy a city and then quickly move on. The pattern quickly repeated all over the world. However, Umbra had his troops stationed hear to not only defeat the humans who controlled the city but fully take the city. This was unlike what they had faced before. This place did not place a strategic position like the Prison Island that was a cover for the Eclipse Ray. A normal Earth would want St. Petersburg for the harbor, but The Black Arms wouldn't need the harbor. They were a space fearing race. They had no need for it.

Shade looked to the left to see his sister with one of Prower command robot rifles in her hands. Even going at the speed he, his sister and Uncle were traveling at, they had to keep a sharp I out. A Black Arms could be around any corner, ready to shot them and kill them. The group spilt into two factions. Sonic lead the one Shade was in as well as the entire group, Lucas had Whirl, Emily, and Storm and two robotic GERALD class sentries. Shade was secretly glad that Lucas was leading Emily. As soon as Umbra discovered his and Crystal presence in St. Petersburg he would use all his power to destroy them. He could not allow himself to be cause of something that could have her hurt. He knew that probably only Uncle Sonic had a chance of facing Umbra. Shadow had barley been able to beat him but that really couldn't be considered a win since Shadow was captured. Umbra could kill them all. No Shade would not be the cause of any harm that could come to her.

"Shade!" yelled Sonic. "Fire to your left." Without thinking, Shade positioned the gun he held and fired without even looking. The resonance laser shot reverberated in the stone walkways of St. Petersburg. It was like an voice echoing a cave and wouldn't stop. If they didn't want attract unwanted attention, they really suck.

The clang of laser fire was alerted to his sensitive ears. The humans preferred their old projectile weaponry so that couldn't have been fired by some of the Russian Contingent. Prower. That was the only answer. Prower rifles were the only answer for that was not the discharge of a Black Arms weapon. This must be dealt with.

Shade ran and ran. He had dropped his rifle when had realized that he had just given away his position. He didn't even say anything to Crystal or Uncle Sonic. He just ran.

Through doing so, he say the real extensive damage that had been done to the city. Black Arms artillery had blasted huge holes into building the size of which he could fit two Big the Cats into each. The strange fruit things that mom had talked about covered the city. He never wanted to find out what these things were they could be eggs for all he knew and little Black Arms could jump out and try to kill him. The Russian Contingent, though outnumbered by the Arms, were putting up a fierce fight. They were pulling all their resources to combat the monsters. They had C-4 planted in places that would attract the Arms, like the city square and the hospitals (which had been evacuated) so they couldn't use the medical equipment and so they would become mass graves for the Arms.

Shade ran as fast as he could not noticing the thin wires in front of him. He hit the wires and fly forward screaming like a little girl and hit the ground. "Grr . . ." he managed to put out after flying fifty feet. "What happened?"

A slick voice as cold as death answered him, "You lost your balance."

Shade turned so fast you could of sworn he had two faces. "YOU!" he yelled. When last he had seen Umbra he had been frightened.

Now he was angry.

Angry that he was related to this monster.

Angry that Umbra had tortured his father.

Angry that he allowed himself to be afraid.

Angry that he didn't have his gun.

Shade mentally kicked himself. How could drop his gun in a war zone. That was the stupidest thing he had ever done. Even more stupid than when he had lost his 50 year old copy of Treasure Island at school and had searched the entire place only to realize that he had left it on his bedside table.

Now before him stood his bastard uncle who had tried to kill him and his family. HE NEEDED TO DIE!

"You think you can come up to me and act all come for what you did!" Shade screamed at the alien; it wasn't a question. You took my father away from me before I was even born! Now I'm gonna take you life away from you!"

Shade charged at the scaled monster with every drop of his speed. He charged an pulled his fist up ready to punch the thing blood called uncle. He was within a foot of Umbra, he pushed his fist forward to punch the beast when . . . Umbra vanished!

Shade put on the breaks as fast as he could. He turned around to she the Black Arms Overlord flipping a coin. "You really should work on your aim," Umbra said with lighter tugging at his face. "I am disappointed in you, my boy. I had really hoped, by now, my own nephew would be able to land a hit on me. Seriously, I'd figure by now you should at least now how to perform Chaos Control, but I guess that's just a sad dream." That tugging soon gave way and Umbra Eclipse soon burst into furious burst of laughter. And in a flash, he was gone.

Shade searched frantically for the winged monstrosity. He could be anywhere. Shade was in unlighted street in a war zone. That thing could be anywhere. The fur on the back of Shade's neck pricked up when he looked into the blackest parts of the alleyway. An echo ran through the alleyway, "You know, I don't think you got your father's calmness of mind. I mean, for thirteen years my men tortured him and he never screamed whined, or shivered in fright. All this together, he never gave me a bit of information. Now, you on the other hand, are like a frightened kitten. You are letting your anger get the best of you and then you are a frightened child. Your father would have given me the fight of a lifetime. But instead I get a brat that isn't even dry behind the ears yet."

"I can take you!" Shade screamed into the darkness. He defiantly sounded braver than he felt. His voice was full of anger and hate. Yet his insides were churning with fear and doubt. "I'll kill you for the crimes you have committed!"

Shade fell to the ground as he felt a clawed fist impact with his face. She yelled in pain. He looked back to see a dark red liquid coking out of his back. "What crimes?" said the alien who leaned down to look Shade in the eye. "I am out of your world jurisdiction. I am my own being. You can say that I committed crimes against Antroanity, but I am not an Antro so those rules don't apply. However," the Black Arms Overlord said with a cenacle smile, "this position is rather fitting. If you oppose me, this is where you shall end up. Beneath me and my army. But if you come with me you shall be a grand leader and all your desires will become reality."

He tried to lifted himself up but the gash in his back was really putting a strain on him. He got up but was breathing heavily. He stood before Umbra trying to look as unntimidated as he could. "I'll never join you, bastard!"

Even as he spoke, the wound on his back began to clean itself, and seal. Shade did not notice. Instead he was looking at the creature that dared call himself Shade's uncle. "My father will kill you for you what you did to him and I'm going to make sure that you never harm any of my family again!"

Umbra could only laugh at his nephew statements. "You are so pathetic now. What makes you think you can defeat me? I am the Alpha and the Omega. I could kill you with the slightest thought. But you can be useful." Umbra pulled a small card out of his robes. It was pure white but was thinner than a normal playing card. The edges looked sharp enough to slice open flesh.

In a flash of light Umbra disappeared and on Shade's left arm a small cut appeared. A slight gasp escaped his lips before he could stop it. Umbra appeared again with the same card in hand or tongue for it was wrapped in his tongue that was at least three feet long. There on the card was dark red liquid and Umbra soaking it all up into his tongue. "Ah, such a lovely snack.

Shade immediately felt very dizzy. He could see Umbra but there were at least four of him. He passed out on to the hard ground of St. Petersburg. And he knew no more.

**DUM DUM DUM DUM DAH DUM**

**Here it is the Review Poll!**

**XT-421****- I'lll just call you XT just to save time. I know there are some rules in war. But, those are for our planet. Umbra really doesn't give a crap about our rules of warfare. He will use everything he has to manipulate and dominate us. That's why we have to use everything we have as well to beat him. **

**Too true. Dracula is one of the scariest villains who has ever made his way into popular culture. **

**Kokie****- He wouldn't give a speech about anything usless he was really ticked off. He wasn't gonna allow his only children to throw their lives away on something that's too big for them to handle. And I'm sorry but I never got the e-mail. **

**Now, all you lovely people, I know there are more of ye out there. So could you please update, I wanna feel loved ********.**

**Bye!**


	16. Fire in my eyes

Chapter 16 Fire in my eyes

Chapter 16 Fire in my eyes

Whirl, Storm, Lucas, and Emily could hear a scream pierce the sound of gunfire and blood. They all could distinguish it from all the other shrieks. For one I wasn't in Russian and two, the voice was that of their friend, Shade. They had barley been able to stand the screams of the Russian Contingent but now . . . they heard the voice of their friend and comrade. Emily felt tears in her eyes as she pictured numerous images of Shade in inexplicable pain, blood on the cold concrete of St. Petersburg. And some Black Arms standing over him with a bloody blade or a cooling blaster.

Lucas and his group marched on. Their rifles in hand, they were startled at the slightest sound. Even with the war making some of the loudest sounds they had ever heard, they were still startling. The robotic sentries that were with them were in constant radio communication with the computers of the Russian HQ. They were getting facts about where the Black Arms were striking. At the moment they were forcing a lot of firepower on the old Soviet armories.

Lucas pondered on this as they marched forward in an abandoned section of the city. Why would Umbra use so much useful force for some old AK-47s? There had to be another reason for this. What would Umbra want? He would want the Eclipse Ray online. That would take tremendous power. The only thing that could generate the much power would be a . . . ! A Chaos Emerald! That's what he wanted. There must be one that the Russians hid in the Armories. An Emerald would allow Umbra to be one step closer to get the Eclipse Ray operational. They couldn't let that happen.

"Sergeant!" Lucas called to the GERALD class soldier in front of him.

"Yes, sir?" it replied in its computerized voice.

"Send this message to our new Base: He knows where one is, and send a picture of an emerald. Next, send this message to the Russian Contingent Commanders, He knows it's there."

"Messages Sent."

Lucas told his friends what he had figured out.

"What were thinking though?" urgently whispered Whirl. "Why did you send Uncle Tails and Uncle Shadow that message? I'd rather face Umbra than face Uncle Shadow's and Mom's fury. They'll kill us!"

Storm said the same and Emily nodded along with their argument.

Lucas shook his head. "I know we'll get into trouble, but if Umbra gets his claws on a Chaos Emerald, then we will have no chance as blizzard in Hell. He already is one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Once that Emerald's in his hands, he can kill us all and whip us out. The others had to be alerted."

Something snapped. Even in the sounds of warfare they could hear it. They turned around to see a Black Arms foot Soldier with a large sword in his claws. The creature hissed and spoke in a language uncompressible to them. He raised his sword and charged forward at them. His blade swinging in the air he ran through the darkness.

Thunder crackled through the sky.

Lucas open his eyes to see the Black Arms soldier and the GERALD class robots had been fried to a crisp. He looked up to see lightning crackling above him. He saw that gliding above him and his team was . . . Umbra, his clawed fist sizzling with electricity.

"I apologize," Umbra spoke to them in his cool voice, mocking them, "my army cannot tell between friend or foe when they do not recognize the being."

They could not respond to him. For Lucas and Emily, this was the first time they had ever seen the malevolent Overlord. They were petrified of the creature. Whirl and Storm who had seen the monster transform on screen were even more who now saw his full body. His full magnitude of power and evil.

"Do I frighten you?" his face was completely calm, no smile trickled its way onto his face. "I am terribly sorry." His body began to morph and change. The wings on his back started to come inward inside his body. The face sucked inward and fangs became flat and dull. The crest vanished leaving only a mop of brown hair. The three fingered claws sprouted two more fingers, lost their sharp edges and the scales become pale flesh. The double jointed feet became flat leathered boots. The robe became a black trench coat with a GUN logo on the front of it. And lastly the eyes became brown with little red dots in the center of the pupils. "Is that better?" spoke the voice of Robert Eclipse.

The young Freedom Fighters stood stunned beyond belief. "I am terribly sorry if you are frightened by my abilities. You should be frightened, though."

He walked around them. They were petrified and did nothing. "All of you are your parent's children." He circled them with his human face full of glee. "I rather like that you believe can try and stop my army. I admire bravery in all its aspects. You have shown that you have the guts to take on a power beyond you. That I can admire in you young folk. I, myself am not at all young. In my life I have life 3679 years. Almost each decade I took another planet or system for my father. Once I took an entire galaxy under the guise of a kindly senator who rose into power as Supreme Chancellor. Another time I went under as a being called a Wraith. I took control of one of their Hives and took—was it three or four—oh, I can't remember. I took some planets for the Empire. Unfortunately for the inhabitants their star became a black hole. I lost a lot of soldiers on that colony. But, look at me." All this time the children were visualizing his horrific exploits. Entire civilizations being torched to the ground so they could be made into bioorganic monstrosities. Men, women, and children being forced to face a slaughter house of evil. His request didn't even reach their brains for a minute. They looked into his eyes and all they could see was fire. A black fire that could pierce you to your soul. "Me rambling when my young nephew lies in the streets of St. Petersburg with slice across his arm."

He looked into each of their eyes and he could see anger. Except one. The young bat girl, her eyes were not only filed with anger but with fear. But fear for her own life. Ah. This was once a grand song. But now this was now it was epiphany symphony.

"Yes," he said, making a hissing sound at the end of the _s_, "you see it as well as I. You see the fire in my eyes and I see it in yours. But your fire is different from mine. Mine is the fire of change that burns away the old ways and ushers in a new era of order under the Great Immortal shall rule. Yours is a fire of anger and protection. Yours is an old flame that has existed since the dawn of time. I am not new or old. I am a grey line. Your flame will perish. Especially when the fact comes around that your guns have been disabled and the fact comes that Shade has been lying unconscious in a warzone for nearly an hour."

Lucas and Emily's eyes grew large as plates. He looked at his watch. It was 9 p.m. They had left the elevator shaft at 7:30. And Shade was somewhere in this hell! "God have mercy!"

Eclipse just laughed. "Sorry, We're all out of mercy, please come at another time, thank you. Oh," his left hand vanished up his sleeve. It returned to it position. Yet it was now no longer human flesh. It was now black and red scales with only three fingers. "enjoy the evening." A burst of energy exploded from his hand. Immediately they all felt very weary. Tired if you will. Their eyes became heavy. And they knew no more.

Sonic and Crystal raced through the streets of St. Petersburg. Why did he do that? Why did he panic? Sonic knew the answer. He knew feeling. It was easy when you had to face robots. They were just programs and oil. But when you hear the sound of flesh ripping apart and blood splattering, something primal will show its horrid head: fear of consequences.

He passed a corner. But then did a step back and saw red and black quills over red and black quills. He saw Shadow the Hedgehog leaning over his son with tears running down his face. Shadow looked up into the stormy and red sky and yelled in anger and defiance. "_**COME OUT AND FACE ME, MURDERER! MY BOY! SHADE! I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS UMBRA!**_

**So everybody, how was it? I know it was far shorter than the last but at least you get to look a small bit of Umbra's past. Take a wild guess who Umbra was talking about when he mentioned the Supreme Chancellor. Umbra has been to multiple galaxies so he would have been able to do something like that.**

**Ok here's the review section **

**Sugiirl****-Thanks, I like to hear what a critic has to say on my works. I really enjoy writing so I like to know if I'm pushing myself hard enough.**

**flowergirl220****-Oh don't worry about her. If you've gotten this far in the story I'm sure you know why by now. I hope also by know you've grown a bit closer to Loveless and I hope you all despise Umbra for what he does to the characters. **

**Koike****-I didn't listen to that for that chapter. I was listening to the soundtrack for the Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring. Oh and as for that cut, it will be **_**EXTREMLY**_** important so pay attention to it. **


	17. The Weakness of Love

Chapter 17 The Weakness of Love

Shade's face felt wet. He could hear screaming and roars of anger and hate. He opened his eyes a little because of the pain to see his father's eyes closed and tears running from his once stone face. "_**YOU BASTARD**_!" Shade heard his father yelling at someone. "_**MY ONLY SON! SON! SPEAK TO ME! PLEASE! SPEAK TO ME**_!"

Shade groaned a bit, and looked at his father ever so slightly, "Nice day for a bit of jog, huh, dad?" he groaned out.

Shadow pulled up into his arms and squeezed the life out of him. "You, idiot," Shadow was able to get out. He released his sons and looked around. "Son," his stern face returned, the tears shed a forgotten memory. "I specifically told you and the others to stay in the base."

"Well," said a cocky voice to the left, "excuse me if your plan was a little boring."

Shadow sighed at his blue copy. "My plan didn't include sending our own children out into the battlefield. What were you thinking? Who am I kidding? YOU WEREN'T THINKING! I see you brought my children, as I can see my daughter hiding behind you with little to no effect."

Crystal came out from behind her uncle with guilty smile on her face. "Hey-y dad? Awkward situation, huh? You don't wanna mention this to ma, do ya?" She tried to a pouting face that seemed to work on him in times past, but now his face was still set as stone.

"We'll _all _discuss this back at the base," he said sternly, emphasizing all. Crystal hung her head in defeat. "How many others did you bring along on this suicide mission?"

Sonic grabbed his arm and chuckled nervously. "Well, I wasn't the one who originally did the roll call. But I think Lucas came with us," Shadow held one finger up and his eyes showed that Sonic was already in sooooo much trouble, "Whirl," two fingers, "Storm," three fingers, "and Emily!" Four fingers went up finally.

"Sonic," Shadow said without any emotion, "I know you've done some dumb things, but this tops them all. Not only did you bring my children up here but your own, Manic's and to top it all off you brought Lucas! I hate to be you when Cosmo and Tails found out that you had their only son up here in the war zone. Your ass is gonna be so burned when we get back."

"Now, now," said a cold voice from above that was almost sounded like an echo, "no profanity allowed in front of the children, little brother."

"_**YOU!"**_ Shadow screamed at the trench coat covered man who stood on top of building. "YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID?"

The man-like-creature boldly jumped from the top of the building with ninja like speed and grace. He started to open the buttons on his trench coat but with a face of innocence and confusion upon it looking at Shadow. "Why, brother, I'm appalled. To think that my own brother would loss his rational senses to think that a normal little cut like that could cause someone to pass out! I am responsible for it but do you think that normal cut would cause something to lose consciousness, especially one of Superior Blood?" The trench coat fell to the ground to reveal Robert Eclipse.

He was rather skinny and wore a thick black t-shirt, black cargo pants that were filled with something, and strapped across his chest were the holsters for two M1911s. They were full loaded. In his left hand was a remote. A normal three button remote. "Why don't we change the channel?"

He pressed the top button. A flash of light appeared. Shadow and the others were temporarily blinded. _Dang it! What is it . . .? _

Shadow opened his eyes to see . . . a bubble?

Yes, a bubble. But it what was in it that got his attention. Inside were three anthros: a plant-like-fox, a blue hedgehog with ruffled front quills, a brown hedgehog with spiked up quills, and an albino bat with eyes the size of pancakes.

"EMILY!" screamed Shade at the top of his lungs, his voice starting to crack. He turned back to his demonic uncle. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?"

Robert only smiled.

Shade banged on the bubble trying to make it pop. No avail. It wasn't a normal water bubble. He kept on hitting and hitting it, but it only made a reverberated sound each time he tried. Robert laughed.

"Ah . . . young love," he said mockingly. "You won't be able to get them out of that. It is made of energy, pure and simple. The unfortunate side effect is that it is unbreakable and it conducts electricity _extremely _well." In his free hand, lightning crackled in it, and it began to arch all around. Robert faced the four in the bubble and smiled wickedly at them. "Enjoy!"

"WAIT!" screamed Shade. The shape shifter looked at the boy.

"Good," said the commander, the wicked smile growing wider and the lightning ball starting to dissipate, "very good. Anger. Fire in your eyes. I'll let them go on one very simple condition."

"Name it!" Shade had tears welling up in his eyes. "I'll do anything!" Only then did he realize what he had just said.

"Very well," Robert said tossing one of the M1911s. Shade caught it and looked at with confusion. "You are to go inside an old Soviet Armory designated CCCP-2853. In the inner most part of the armory is an item I want. Get it and I will release them. Do we have a deal? If you refuse I would rather enjoy having some new lab rats?"

Shade looked back to his father, to get his assurance. _What are you doing?_ said a voice in his head. _Shake his hand! Make the deal! You love her! This is no time to ask daddy for permission! Do it!_ Shade was surprised by his own thoughts. He was confused, but thankfully Shadow nodded, albeit reluctantly. "We have a deal, Umbra."

Robert Eclipse smiled. "Wonderful!" he exclaimed. "You must bring the item to me in the Sanctuary of the Church of the Savior on Blood at six in the morning. Otherwise, I will believe you have double crossed me and I will terminate the young fellows in the bubble one way or another." Even though it seemed impossible, the wicked smile seemed to grow wider and wider with each sentence, as though ever second pleased him, more than the last. "That gives you four hours to retrieve the item for me. You'll know it when you see it. You now see before you the weakness of this planet, the weakness of all non-full-Black Arms: the Weakness of Love."

**Hey, everybody! Sorry for it being so short, but I wanted to continue to make you **_**really**_** hate this guy. OH, and keep your eyes on Shade's thoughts and his behavior. You'll see soon enough**

**REVIEW ANSWERS! YAY ME!**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper**-**WOW! I have never had any one copy an entire passage of my story to leave a review. But it is extremely welcome. Ye is correct, at least on the first one. Correct, Umbra was Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, that's how he could send lightning at people. He is not true Sith. But he knows their philosophy, and had to take an entire human lifetime to take a galaxy. Unfortunately for him we all saw him lose that galaxy to Luke Skywalker. But the other is a Wraith from Stargate Atlantis. He took the form of a Wraith Queen and took multiple planets, but lost them all to a black hole, the one thing he will truly never be able to control.**

**Hissara****-Sorry, but as you can see, I didn't kill Shade, he's too important to kill now. But that does not mean there won't be character death. There will be some characters that die and most of them will be rather gruesome. Sorry, guess I don't have the balls to kill a kid. Thanks for the Kudos, I fell loved :), I don't mind Shadow/Rouge coupling it's just that I can't really see a future for them together.**

**flowergirl220****-Thanks, all the kids are suppose to be mean. I wanted to show, that even though nationally he was hero, Shadow still is the subject of many prejudices against him. So in turn, his children would be thought by some to be just as 'warped' as their father. Loveless is going to be extremely emotional later on. Also thanks for the second review. Yes. Hate Umbra. He Evil. You'll continue to hate him as the story goes.**

**XT-421****- Yep Star Wars. He will make allusions to many more mass media so pay attention. Actually I would love to see my villain and your hero face off. But be weary, being a shape sifter he can be whatever he wants so that means he could become anything from a mouse to Devil Doom. And I think you found out what happened to the kids in this chapter. MUHAHAHAHAHAH!**


	18. CCCP2853

Chapter 18 CCCP-2853

Shadow's ears were ringing. That happens when his wife had yelled at him over his cell phone. Not that he had done anything wrong. It was just that she didn't give him time to hand the phone to guilty parties. You may think that Shadow has a temper, you should see or hear his wife when she hears that her two children decided to head up to the surface to fight their insane uncle and his alien army. Nice plan except for the fact that they were outnumbered seven-thousand to 1/2. Next he had the rings of Russian syllables. He had told the Russian President that Umbra wants something from the old Soviet armory CCCP-2853. Immediately the man had burst into a rage that knuckles would be proud of. Not only was against the idea of going after the item but he was adamantly against telling Shadow what was in 2853.

He ran through he city. His blue doppelganger beside him and his children running behind them. The thing that worried him was not the Soviet vault. It was that cut. The nick on Shade's arm. It had healed by the time the conversation with Umbra had subsided, which Umbra had soon vanished with the energy bubble in a flash of black light.

That cut, though small, must have been made by Black Arms technology. And through experience, Shadow had learned that those wounds take long periods of time to heal naturally and even some extended strands of time with medical attention. Umbra wouldn't have made it just for ideal chit-chat. He wanted something out of it to grow. Something far to cynical for Shadow's taste. He had faced Black Doom, and he had been a 'guest' on Umbra's flagship. He knew too well the things that Black Arms wanted: food, destruction, control, and genetic dominance. That's how they were so varied. They had the ability to assimilate other races into their own via the usage of the Blood of Black Doom. Shadow had learned this upon one of his extended stays aboard the ARK. But he hadn't left the data there. He downloaded the entire mainframe and put it a secret vault that only he knew the location of.

They hadn't run into much trouble. A stray Black Hawk here and there, that was pretty much it. Most likely Umbra had ordered all his troops to pull back from the Armory. That wouldn't stop the Russian Contingent from trying to completely obliterate the slimy foes.

_Why most my life be just 'one more fight'?_ thought Shadow as he speed through St. Petersburg. _All I want is peace. Peace, love, and to see me children grow up and have children of their own. But every time I get close to achieving this, something from my past decides to surface and torment me again. First GUN, then the Doctor, then Black Doom, and Umbra has been my foe longer than any of them. When we free those kids, I'm gonna rip his black heart out of his horrid body. And I hope he burns in Hell!_

They approached the old armories. Most of them were just doors that led down into the real armories underground. They all lead into the same tunnel system, but many of the tunnels were cut off that way if one armory was taken, the intruder couldn't get into all of them the same way.

_2793 . . . .2820 . . . 2837 . . . 2850 . . _"2853," said Shadow to the blue one.

"What do you think old scale face wants with old AK-47s?" Sonic looked up at the concrete door with the crude paint that said CCCP-2853. Mostly likely that had filled these Armories over to protect them from intruders.

"He doesn't," Shadow said simply. He placed his hand on the door and shouted, "CHAOS FIRE!" A blast of red energy came forth from his hand and plowed through the concrete. What remained of the concrete was only rumble and could be easily walked through. Now their was a just a fully carved out tunnel meant for people to walk through. "He wants something out of this." Shadow turned around to see five of the larger Prower Command robots, (CHAOS class for your information), one of them handed Shadow, Shade and Crystal an fully automatic machine gun. They attempted to hand Sonic one, but he declined. "You'll most likely need one, Faker."

Sonic smiled. "You'll never catch me dead with one of those things." Shadow held in a sad smile. In one of the fake truths that Umbra had tortured Shadow's mind with. Sonia had committed suicide when Sonic was in the room and he had shot himself for failing to stop her.

The CHAOS Bots took up position as guards outside in case the Black Arms came to break up the party. Shadow turned on the flash light on the front of the gun and others did the same. The marched forward into the darkness that somewhere held what Umbra wanted.

Not only had this armory had been abandoned, but it stunk. If you took gym socks, skunk spray, dirty diapers, rotting corpses, and a couple decades of wet dogs running ramped you might get close. They had already descended into the full area of the tunnel. Shadow wondered if someone had said that it couldn't get any worse when they found themselves knee-deep in sewer water. Apparently the sewer ran nearby and the concrete had cracked. Now Crystal was muttering complaints about the sewer water. Typical. That's just what Shadow needed on this mission. Whining females. Thankfully a blunt stare from her brother was able to get her to shut up.

Shadow kept on trying to think what Umbra could want. None of the Soviet equipment could be worth anything. Unless, they had some form of Black Arms technology that was vital to Umbra's campaign and they stashed it in this armory. Or it was possible . . . He must have taken the red one. The Russians may have gotten hold of one. It was possible. The Eclipse Cannon had needed all seven of them to fire. So Umbra might need them for his Eclipse ray.

The Russian's had not only put up more concrete walls, but also automated turrets, laser, floor motion detectors, and steel doors. Shadow and his children took little time to disable each of these defenses. He noticed that with every shot, Shade seemed to become more adept. Unnaturally so. He was become more agile, his strength, his aim, everything. Yet his sister, who had received the exact same amount of training, was still the same as when they had been training. It wasn't right.

Only one wall stood in their way. But this one wasn't just a simple door. It had a keypad. Shadow put his fingers up to the keypad and punched the 5 button. Immediately a jolt of electricity bolted through Shadow's hand. "Oww!"

He jumped back from the shock of being attacked by an immobile object. Shade and Crystal both tried to punch other buttons with similar results.

"What the?" Shade exclaimed as he held his hand. The jolt had knocked it completely numb.

Shadow looked at the buttons closely. He could see faint markings. They were look like some sort of old code. What made them harder to decipher was they were in Russian. _Dark . . moon . . .Arms! _ Of course. The Russians would make sure the enemy couldn't get through the door. He put his ear to the steel door. He could her oil rushing and the sound of electric jolts. They had set the door up so no one with any form of Black Arms DNA could open the door let alone blow the door up. The sounds inside the door meant that there was some form of booby trap inside and he was no booby.

"Sonic," the blue hedgehog looked up as he name was called, "punch in the code :540172." Sonic cast his brother-in-law a weary look, but did as he was told. He pressed his fingers on the keypad, but no shock came to hinder the blue speedster. Shadow slightly smiled. This would get him passed the Russian security, but this would Umbra one step closer to his ultimate goal.

The door slid open as Sonic finished the code. They all stepped inside. What they saw was a glowing blue gem cut so perfectly you would have thought you were dreaming. It glowed with such radiance. It could only be one thing.

Umbra would get the Blue Chaos Emerald.

**MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! How'd you lovely people like this chapter? Sorry for the long update. This one took some extra thought. I hadn't originally indented for this to happen. It was going to be Sonic alone going into CCCP-2853 and getting the Chaos Emerald and all the children being inside the bubble. Oh, and just for knowledge's sake, CCCP is the Russian for USSR (United Socialist Soviet Republics).**

**Now for the world famous REVIEW SECTION!**

**Hissara-True their stupid to read our stories. They dumb people. Thanks for the fave. I thought that some might not fav it because it was just a simple three minute drawing. But really thanks. **

**flowergirl220-But I like scaring people. It's fun! That's why I love writing his scenes. He is just so different from all the other characters I write. Ain't it grand?**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper-You're write of course but Umbra does not believe that. He believes one's own power will increase the flow the energy. He knows what love and friendship are, of course. He's not stupid. He just believes they are illusions and you can never truly trust anything with its own mind. **


	19. Earth Protectorate

Chapter 19 Earth Protectorate

Umbra Eclipse, Lord of the Black Arms, Ruler of the greatest of all Empires, stood waiting. He wasn't bored. Tonight had been enough fun. More fun than he had in a long, _long_ time. Even more fun than playing with Loveless' emotions, and that was grand fun. The church was empty and totally lifeless. What could he expect? He had already taken this part of the city. But he wouldn't need it much longer. As soon as the Chaos emerald was in his hands, he would leave. This city had no more to offer him other than a power snack and a few human bodies to quell his blood thirst. But the intensity of tonight's escapades were amusing. Next he would head to the Ukraine and have a bonfire.

The Doors o the church slammed open. In the threshold stood, two black and red hedgehogs, a pink and red hedgehog, and a blue hedgehog. But it was the sack on the tall black hedgehogs back that made Umbra's eyes have a departed look of joy. "I see you have the item," said Umbra with the slick voice of a snake with legs.

Shadow only grunted. He stopped in the middle of the isle and looked at Umbra with a serious face. "I didn't think you were much on religion, Umbra. Enjoy playing priest?"

Umbra laughed. "Not bad for a beginner, Shadow. Your jokes could use some work though. I chose this local for the quite and the dramatic entrance you could have."

Shadow growled, "Always the thespian, eh, Robert?"

Umbra's smile vanished. "Hand over the item."

Shadow looked around. This hall was empty except for them and Umbra. No giant bubble of energy. No children trapped. "What have you done with the children?"

Another wicked smile appeared. "They are quite safe. First the item."

Shadow pulled out his gun. "Where are they?" He spoke with ultimate authority and power.

"Naughty, naughty," Umbra mocked. He snapped his fingers and the familiar flash of light appeared. "Very well, here is the merchandise; do you have the payment for this humble merchant?"

Shadow opened the bag and pulled out the blue Chaos Emerald. "Why do you want this? You don't need it to use your powers. You are full Black Arms."

"True, brother," Umbra approached them with the giant bubble in tow, "I have no reason to keep it in my personal possession, but that does not mea you can keep it, little brother. This is for the Ultimate weapon. The one that not even the 'Ultimate Life Form' can stop." He stretched out his clawed and scaled palm and awaited the Emerald.

"The children," Shadow said, his voice remaining its authority.

Umbra sighed. "The Gratitude I receive for my hard work . . ." He snapped his fingers and the bubble dissipated. The children ran past the power hungry alien and hid behind Shadow and the rest of them. "The payment."

Shadow threw the monster the Emerald. "I hope you choke on it."

The Katrina flew threw the skies of Russia silently. Even inside, there was no sound other than a cough of a sneeze. No dared to bring up the subject of tonight. Shade felt woozy, Crystal feared her mother's fury, Lucas felt guilty like it was his fault, Whirl sat only in silence his ever thought of the scaled nightmarish alien he had seen and Storm was like his cousin: fear. Emily was hugging Shade; her only thoughts were to comfort him in his confusion.

Shadow's face showed seriousness, yet calm serenity. His heart beat and his mind would show you that he was furious. His children had gone into a war zone, most of them had gotten captured by Umbra, and now that thing had two Chaos Emeralds. He was after something with those things. The only way Shadow could stop his was to get all the other Emeralds. That Journal would have field day if Tails found it had made it have the ability to talk.

Tails was very level headed when it came to his child. He was the peacemaker. The one who could solve any argument as soon as it started. Now he was angry. Yes, he had wanted to train them, to teach them how they could fight later in the war. Not now will Umbra still had the advantage of numbers. They were to go out later when they could help.

Shadow had sent a mission report that contained everything that had transpired during the mission via code. He had pressed significant almost worry like emphases on Shade' cut. On how it had healed _far_ too fast to be normal. Even thought Tails had to point out that their definition of 'normal' was rather constrained.

When he found out that Lucas had gone up to the surface to fight in St. Petersburg, he felt the wounds he had felt of losing Cosmo in the War with the Metarex. He couldn't stand it. He took down a rifle off the wall and waited for the Katrina to return. Not that he was going to shot anyone. He had only gotten down for intimidation purposes. Cosmo stood beside him. Her face set equally grim. Tails and Lucas were her whole world.

The Katrina landed it blue and black paint being fogged by the sea water that they had cut through. They had come through an old cave in the harbor that had been long forgotten. Tails had linked a tram system that would carry the Katrina to the hanger bay with the rest of the new KAMIKAZE class. The tram was drained and the door opened to show a group of rather angry looking parents.

Sonia, Amy, Rouge, Sally, and Cosmo rushed inside while the fathers slowly walked up the stairs holding back their anger at Sonic and the kids. Each of them wore a black jacket with two black studded gloves and gold shoulder pads. Each jacket had an insignia on it with a military rank marker. Tails threw Shadow and Sonic a jacket. Shadow's insignia had the picture of a red moon and his rank was that of a full four star General. Sonic's had that of a silver shield and his rank was also a four star general.

"These jackets show your rank and the section of the newly formed Earth Protectorate that you head. Shadow is head of the Blood Moon, the section that deals solely with the eradication of the malicious alien forces, the Black Arms. Sonic's that of the Silver Knights, they are charged with the Ultimate defense of the planet. Peace Keepers. I am still head of Prower Command. The robotics division. Knuckles is head of the Red Dragons. The real bruisers of this organization. Manic is head of the Cyber-Command: the Green Lightning. Loveless is still head of GUN, it will be a primary front line fighters. We are the best in our field but the others have also received these."

Don't think that that was all that happened. Along with their parents becoming the new Earth Protectorate, all the children were grounded until they hit sixteen, and it might get extended before then. Tails and Cosmo examined Shade's body for anything out of the ordinary, but they found nothing except that his immune system was stronger. Lucas and all the other children that had been trapped inside the building were given an immediate medical checkup. Nothing was found.

Right now, Shade sat in his room that Tails had set up for him. Mercifully, Tails had set up Emily's room right next door. They weren't allowed to visit each other for a three days. They could only come out of their rooms for meal times (they had bathrooms). He had been fed dinner so it wasn't hunger that bothered him.

_Why should you listen to these idiots. Go! Talk to her! You're lonely and you know it. She of course is as well. Go! Don't listen to them GO!_

Shade was having a hard time to relax with these thoughts breaking into his peaceful ones. He was trying to calm himself but with each of these thought he became angrier. It reminded him of how he'd failed them all, how he was almost killed by Umbra, the look of grief, loss, anger that had littered his father's face when he thought Shade dead, Emily trapped within the bubble threatened to be killed by Umbra, and now of how he'd help give Umbra more power. Yeah he was a little ticked. Now he was grounded until he could drive. But did he really need that now? Dad had a bike but he didn't need it.

He heard a knock on the wall. He turned back and answered with two knocks. Three knocks came back on the other side. _Emily!_ Yes! Finally some contact with his girlfriend. _Wait. Is she even my girlfriend? I mean, neither of us have said anything about them being 'official.' _He could feel 'those thoughts' coming back._ Of course! She's yours! Who else? Get out of this cell and got to your girl!_ Shade just laid there not knowing what to obey: his own yearnings for Emily of to stay and make sure these thoughts would stop. He'd never been the real rebellious one. Other than this incident. He was constricted.

**HEEEHEHEHEHEHE! Things are not looking well. I EVIL! Umbra's got a Chaos Emerald to go along with his red one. WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?**

**REVIEWS! REVIEWS!**

**Flowergirl220****-Sorry but as you can see he got what he wanted. The Chaos Emerald is his. And for how they'll get out of this, you'll just have to find out.**

**XT-421****-You want to make Umbra the good guy? Hmm, I would like to do that but then I would lose the buzz of writing Umbra's evil lines. And the hero will never have peace as long evil exist in this world. That is why I belive that love, to make someone special in your heart beyond all other humans and animals is a thing that should be preserved. For creatures like Umbra will come and try to destroy that peace. **

**Hissra****-Umbra is also a . That's what makes him so much fun to write. There will be some violence but I can't tell what will involve Umbra. But when Umbra get's to have his fun with his claws he enjoys doing everything slowly yet making it and art form.**

**Koike****-I'm sorry for not giving you much to gone about the cut. It will be important, however, it will a bit drawn out. So pay attention to it. And you have my sympathies about school. My teachers are nuts!**


	20. The Thoughts of Two

Chapter 20 The Thoughts of Two

**Hey Everybody! In this segment we'll do something a little different. This will be chapter using the same basic principle as a split screen in television and comics. Enjoy! **

Shade walked through the halls of the base, a scowl on his face. He hated being stuck in here. Dad was still furious and when actually he scheduled to train them Umbra started his attack on the Ukraine and on China. This had caused Shadow to have split his forces, Sonia taking a full battalion to the Ukraine, and Shadow to go fight in China. He went to China because he knew all their customs, languages, and tactics. _This is insane. I want to help but the moment I get close to getting something done_

_That idiot brother of mine gets in the way and my plans are ruined!_ Umbra flew over the Ukraine; his forces in China would prepare everything for his arrival. Right now, he could have some fun as he brooded. How could the missile have failed to disperse that little annoying pest? Everything had been thought of! The trajectory, the radar systems, the calling-card, EVERYTHING! Not even that little whelp of a fox could have . . .! _That's it! Tails must have had some form of escape route in case my forces located Prower Command. How could I've been so_

_Stupid!_ _ I walked into Umbra's trap and I lead everyone with me._ Shade picked at his peas at the dinner table. Each of the men was wearing their commanding jackets albeit loose and not buttoned up. How he evened each one of them for those jackets. They meant they held power. All Shade was the little trouble maker. _ Yes that what they think of you. Why should they get all the glory? You did take down a Black Arms Soldier at 13. You should get one. They are just _

_Stupid! How could I've v not known? I'll just have to rethink certain things._ He sent a lightning struck at an elm tree. It burst in to flames for five seconds became ash. All this was just a way to vent his anger. He screamed into the night in his native tongue, "_Pacris Sxatrim!_ That roughly translates as Chaos Cleaver. He brought his hand down and a curved blade of purple energy and it sliced through a Ukrainian tank right down the middle. _Although,_ he thought with a smile as a bead of sweat rolled down his brow from heat of the attack, _I think my adventures in St. Petersburg were worth the humiliation. The Emerald in now in my grasp and Shade's blood was rather tasty. I believe everything is going according to_

_Plan? _There was a plan to all this madness?

"Of course, Shade," Tails said it as if was the most obvious thing in the world. "Umbra wants the Chaos Emeralds. I think I believe I know why." To Tails left, Lucas made a coughing noise to get the attention of his father. Tails chuckled a bit, "Ok, _we _have found out what he wants them for." Tails went over to the front of the table where a 3D projector was.

"Wait," interjected the President, "should we discuss this with the children here?" He had already contacted his generals about him and Commander Loveless being in good hands but they just couldn't reveal themselves yet to the rest of the world.

Tails looked to each of the adults. Many of the mothers (excluding Sonia because she was in the Ukraine) gave reluctant nods, albeit after a moment's hesitation. All the fathers nodded, even Espio, who wasn't even a father, nodded. "If half of the body is shrouded in darkness, then it must drag one way or another," he said using one of his ninja proverbs.

Tails flipped on the projector to reveal an artillery gun-like device. It was black, red and gold. It had a rounded section where it apparently it pivoted to move up and down. The center of the plate on the section had a dark purple and red core and had red levels surrounding it. But it was the actually barrel, if you want to call it that, of the weapon that intrigued everyone at the table. It had multiple spouts each one's ends slanted a different way. In all, there looked to some odd 25 of them. Each barrel had symbol that seemed to be painted on them. Most of them looked unearthly, but two on the top barrel were familiar. The top one was that of the symbol on the back of Umbra's calling-card, the other was the exact same one that Shadow used as his own insignia.

"This," Tails said pointing to the hologram, "is Umbra's ultimate weapon. This is the Eclipse Ray. The beacon for the Black Arms Fleet."

_This is what Umbra wants! He's wanted this for the entire time. That's what he wanted the Chaos Emerald for. That's why he held my friends hostage. That's why he held_

_Emily? I believe that is her name. Yes. She could extremely useful. The boy's feelings for her are immense. He showed that in St. Petersburg. _Umbra flew into the sky. On the burning terrain he saw a pink with black stripes motorcycle. Its rider was a pink hedgehog wearing some shining steel armor. It made her and easier target. Umbra stretched his mind to his artillery. _Open fire on the pink_

_Hedgehog?_ Now where did that come from? Shade was looking at the Eclipse ray. _It must be dad's symbol on it. Or is something more, my boy?_

_What?_ Shade responded to the cold voice inside his head. _Who are you because you can't be me?_

_Are you sure? I all you want to be. That's all you need to know._

_Wait! What do you know? Tell me or else!_

_That response has told you all you need to know. Other than your mother is about to face your uncle on the battle field of the Ukraine. _

"Umbra!" yelled Sonia at the vile monster who smiled at her. "You tried to kill me, and then you tried to kill my children! You may think LOVE IS WEAK TRY FIGHTING A MOTHER PROTETING HER CHILD!"

Umbra laughed. "Oh, I relish the challenge. But do you actually believe you can kill me? I've conquered armies with more powerful grunts than you single handed. I think you ready yourself with that pretty little gun of yours."

She pulled a gun out of her holster and let the charm on her neck transform. It became the blaster she had been familiar with since she was a teen. "I hope you don't mind if I send you to Sweden," Sonia said sadistically, "cause once I'm done with you, everyone will think your Swiss cheese!"

_MOM! DON'T!_

Umbra smirked as he held the lightning in his hand. He could feel the boys worry, his hate for him, his . . . fear. He could work on that. It would become an invaluable asset.

But now he had to focus on the angry mother before him. He knew his most basic attacks would be no match for this being. He had seen what the Kaninic mothers of the Orion Galaxy do when their kits are threatened. Not a pretty site for an observer even on of Pure Black Arms Blood. A mother of one with Black Arms blood would be even more difficult to defeat. _Her increased strength and knowledge of the way_ _I fight will hamper my strategy. I'll just have to improvise. _"You know that if you oppose me, I can't let you live."

A shot went right at his head. He just simply stood there. The laser shot burned straight to his head. If it wasn't for the years of training and fighting, Sonia might have tossed her German Chocolate cookies lunch at the sight. She had shot straight through his head. To see small tentacles and thousands upon thousands of eyes that blinked and stared at each other.

Shade yelled in pain at that very moment. He felt like his head had just been shot. There was fire. It was like his head was on fire. Burning. Yet it wasn't hot nor was it cold. It was just pain. Unbearable pain. He couldn't even feel the warm hands of Emily around him or hear her voice trying to ask him what was wrong. And the others were crowding around him. All he could feel was the pain. The horrible pain. He tried to open his eyes but found the light blinding and even more painful.

Then, it was like the blinds were opened inside his mind.

He saw burning fields with Black Arms Soldiers charging across it, weapons blazing. Before him stood his mother with such a rage on her face that he had never and had never wanted to see in his entire life. She looked him with rage, fury, disgust, hate. He didn't understand. His mouth moved. He didn't know what he said. Apparently it greatly insulted her. She fired one of the guns she was holding . . . straight at his head!

He knew he would feel the same pain from before. But nothing came. He knew that the blaster bolt had gone straight through his head. But there was no pain. Nothing.

"_I told you that were weaker than me,_" said Shade in a voice in tone not his own: cold, snake-like, arrogant.

He felt the flesh that his mother had shot out of him return. Not from the ground where it had fallen. It just reappeared. He looked down to see the fallen gore rot at a very accelerated rate until there was nothing left but ash and dust. He picked it up and blew it away. _Now,_ said the voice that Shade had spoken with, but the mouth wasn't moving this time, _believe it is time for you to return to your party whilst I deal with your mother. _

Shade felt like been punched in the stomach and he fell . . . . and fell . . . and fell into darkness.

**DUM DUM DUM DUM DAH DUM! It only gets Darker and Darker. And I'm loving every minute of this. Oh could somebody tell me how to check messages sent to me through by readers? It would really help. Before we head on to the lovely review section to answer questions, I would like to thank each and every one of you for reading my stories or story if you've only read this one. I'd like to list you all personally, but I don't know all your names and to try and list all of you would take **_**far**_** too long. SO anyway, Thanks ****:)**

**Now ONTO THE REVIEWS!**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper-I won't tell you what is happening. You'll just have to wait and see like everybody else. But continue to guess if you want. Oh and what kind of pie? Me? I prefer good old American Apple Pie.**

**Koike-Oh, I'll keep a look out for it. Do you plan to have the Gullwings as Amy, rouge and Tikal and Sonic as Tidus, or am I really off the wall here.**

**XxXAssenava-ShadoniaXxX-Good! I hope its interesting, otherwise I'd hate to write it. And to answer that question, the reason Shadow and Sonia haven't had any love moments parse is because of the war and because of their insane, psychopath of a relative. But be patient, there will be lovey-dovy moments between them.**

**XT-421- I hope you for that statement because usually your characters _do_ break the rules in the name of love. For example, one Xavier-421. He gets himself into trouble with GODS in the name of love. But don't worry. It will get more and more romantic as we go on. Hehehehe.**

**Hissara-yes that's why I put him in the church: the Irony. Actually he is a cannibal. He eats minions who don't comply. He is held as a god to his people. He and his father, Black Doom are the Weapons of Fate. Black Doom is the great sword that will destroy all who oppose the Empire and Umbra is the subtle knife that goes behind the enemy and weakens them for the sword to strike. **


	21. Happy Memories

Chapter 21 Happy Memories

It was official; Shadow the Hedgehog, Ultimate Life Form, Son of Gerald Robotnik hated, absolutely hated chopsticks. He was very dexterous and you would think that he could pick the rice with relative ease. He could. That wasn't the problem. The hitch was that every time he picked up a pair of chopsticks they snapped in his hands. How could the Chinese function with these things?

He sat in a bunker meeting with the Chinese heads of the military. They weren't very pleased that he had come to answer their call for aid. They had wanted Sonic or 'the very American-like' Knuckles to support them. Not the 'alien spawn'. Shadow felt very tempted to just strangle them with just two fingers to show him he was not to be trifled with, but his better judgment preserved. They had just wanted to trick him. He wasn't dumb. However, before he started learning how to deal with such people, he would have embarrassed himself. Like he did when he had started to like develop his love for now wife.

Though he did not show it to the Chinese dignitaries and generals, he was smiling. His face was the dead calm that you would see on him in battle, yet his heart was grinning from ear to ear as he recounted all the happy memories. For instance the first time he met her. Shadow was running from one of the latest creation of the Doctor. An Egg-Doomer. Basically it was Eggman Empire version of Black Doom. Its looks alone on the Doctor's rendition of the evil tyrant would make babies cry. It was so ugly and so badly redone that he it was red, yellow and white. Not a good thing for someone who's name is _Black _Doom.

The giant robot used its lasers to knock through buildings to try blast Agent Shadow who in his possession was the red Chaos Emerald. The doctor wanted it, for obvious reasons. Shadow was fortunately careless and the robot fired and sent him flying into a local café right onto the table of a young pink hedgehog reading a romance book. Seconds before she wished she could have someone like young Jeffrey for her like Britney. Just then a black hedgehog flew through the window with a look of pure boredom as if this was normal. He looked at her; she looked at him. Both of them were in complete shock. Her face went into 'period mood' as Manic used to call it, and she pulled back her free arm, punched and sent the black hedgehog with a force that made him fly right into the third eye of the Egg-Doomer.

The Doctor yelled in fury that his last attempt before retiring had been a miserable failure. "I would yell that 'I would have my revenge, Shadow, but I'm getting old for this but don't put me out of the picture just yet I may yet return for another round," told the Doctor as he floated away on his little hovercraft to his retirement home. Shadow picked himself out of the rumble. He marched to the broken café. Thankfully only the window and coffee and tea was still being served at a very swift rate now that everybody needed a drink.

"One decaf cinnamon cup of coffee," he said to the poor boy who worked there. The boy immediately did as Shadow ordered with a look of utmost fear like he was going to pee his pants. Shadow sighed inwardly. _Why do people always do that? _he thought annoyed. _All I want is a bloody cup of coffee! I can't be that scary, can I?_

"You sure know how to make a first impression on a girl," said a rather beautiful voice behind Shadow.

He turned around to see the same pink hedgehog that sent him flying into the rather stupid looking robot. "Can I help you?" he said in his monotone yet serious voice.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, you can pay for the cup of coffee you ruined that I was drinking when you slammed through the window."

Shadow had tried to argue, even to the point of threatening the stuck up lady. After he paid for both drinks, she had him sit beside her for a while. Which for about fifteen minutes concluded in silence, but after seeing the book cover, he asked her if it was any good. That opened the vault. After discussing literature for a bit, he told her that he wrote a bit and he had a copy of what he had so far with him in a bag. She looked at him like he was crazy. He dissevered then reappeared holding a brown bag with some rolled up notebook paper inside. She read through the manuscript of the adventure story of a vampire who had lost his memory of why he was a vampire and find out he was the son of Dracula. Dracula gave the vampire a ultimatum on join him or the mortals. And that was as far as he gotten.

"This is really good!" she exclaimed. "What's your name? I'd like to know the name of the next upcoming writer." Shadow didn't know why, but he felt himself become very hot. If he had a color he would have pulled it and let the steam come out, so to speak. She leaned in on him, a seductive smile on her face. "What? Cat got the Ultimate Life Form's tongue?"

"Hey!" interjected Shadow. "Why did you ask my name if you already no who I am? Ow!"

She hit him on the back of the head with her hand. "I know _what_ you are; I never said I knew your _name_."

He replied simply. "Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."

She brought her finger up to her mouth and thought about the name. "Shadow . . . Shadow. I like it. Mysterious."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "What would you have done if you hadn't liked it? Ow!"

"That."

He continued to meet 'Sonia' there for a while. They weren't 'dates'. Just meet-and-greets. She'd bring some caffeine induced beverage and Shadow would bring one of his many short stories or a book he liked.

Not surprisingly, the pink hedgehog had caused some suspicion within her own family on where she went every Tuesday and Friday. Her brother Manic followed her to the little café where she waited. Manic blinked and instead of an empty chair that faced his sister, there was a black hedgehog with red striped quills and a bag over his shoulder. They talked for a while, but manic didn't see any harm in it. He was going to leave when young Charmy decided to excitedly yell, "HEY MANIC! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Manic looked back at the table to be met with the angry eyes of his sister and the slightly smirking face of the calm black hedgehog. After a couple whacks to the head, some chewing out, manic learned that Shadow knew of his presence and had said that he hadn't reacted because he was sure he could take an unarmed hedgehog who got snuck up on my by a 6 year old.

Manic introduced himself as Sonia bro and he joined their conversation. Only five minutes after this, the great blue wonder know as Sonic the Hedgehog came rushing past to see his dark copy and his siblings. He put on the breaks and slammed into a fruit cart.

Shadow would have reminisced a bit more if it weren't for the Chinese general screaming at a North Korean general who had just arrived. He was getting rather tiered of the these idiots ramblings. He brought his hand up and karate chopped the polished wood table cutting clear in two.

Instead of quieting them, the breaking of the table only seemed to get them angrier. Shadow sighed and drawled on a little power and concentrated it into his eyes. This effect gave them a demonic red and black glow that seemed to incite fear into the angry mob and they sat down in the chairs.

Shadow began to speak to them in Mandarin. "We have a job to do. We do not have time for your petty differences and to be blunt I don't give a damn about who insulted whose honor over some game of Shoji. The Black Arms have come down through Mongolia and are heading straight for Beijing. We need to prepare ourselves before Eclipse arrives."

One of the Chinese generals stood up and shouted at Shadow. "You brought this monster here. It is you that it wants. Why not go and sacrifice yourself again and let the rest of alone in peace?"

Shadow shot the man a glare and pointed down for the man to remain seated. He complied with out another word. "If I was what he wants he would have never returned to Earth since he already had me for 13 years. He wants the planet. And now he's looking for the seven Chaos Emeralds. As of right now he has two of the seven. Do any of you know where the rest are?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Each General's eye was shifty and Shadow could see all of them.

This was such a drag. Troublesome People.

**I Wish you a Merry Christmas! I Wish you a Merry Christmas! Sorry. I know It Halloween but my relatives have been playing the Holiday music early. Presents for Everyone! Did anybody notice that very last line? I was alluding to Shikamaru in Naruto, his famous tag-line. **

**Oh. Real quick. This story will have a sequel most defiantly, but I am thinking about adding a prequel that will be a complete love fic that will tell about Shadow's and Sonia's relationship right up to the start of this story. **

**So here is the Review section! I hoped I would have had more to answer but when in Rome. . .**

**XT-421****-true, I can see why you would do that. All these systems saying if we do any thing that has to do with any religion people will be offended which I personally think is bull. If they don't like it, they don't have to read it. Rock on man. Rock on.**

**Flowergirl1220****- This is a war fic. Of course it will sound like World War I, except this is World War III. The entire world is fighting to defend their planet from an invader. Oh, the telekinetic, go back to the sharp card that Umbra had in St. Petersburg. It has something to do with this along with blood.**


	22. The Three Statues

Chapter 21 The 3 statues

Chapter 21 The 3 statues

Sonia couldn't believe it. The hole that she shot out of his head had just healed and now it looked like there had never been any damage. Umbra smiled at her. "Did you actually think that would kill me? I am the greatest of all life forms. You can not harm me. You are nothing but a mere mortal. You shall die!"

Umbra charged forward, his staff forming in his hands, and the Chaos Blade extending from the top of the staff. Sonia had to dodge as the red blade of energy slashed at her midsection. She fired at his chest which made two more holes in his body. She could see endless amounts of organs and hearts and whatever else the Black Arms shape sifter needed. They healed again and he swung his blade at her face and made cut on her left cheek.

Umbra smiled and then made another barrage at her again. Sonia brought out some trench knives to fight with and tried to block his bombardment, but the knives were sliced through like a hot knife through butter. The blade made more cuts into the armor that she wore. Nothing could stop this weapon.

"Are you enjoying this match? I hope you are. I am, and I'm sure that your son is approving of the gift I have granted him."

Sonia kicked him in the face without fully comprehending what he said. "What have you done to my son?" she yelled at him.

The robe that he wore began to shrink and come in closer to his body like a jumpsuit. The large built upstairs made him look more like cross between a dragon and a large man. "Oh, just an early Christmas present. I'm sure he'll enjoy it as much as I have been these past few days." He charged forward again his blade becoming like a whip. It wrapped around the remains of the Ukrainian tank and he snatched it back making the tank fly behind him. He pulled the whip back again making the tank come back with it. Sonia easily avoided it. Then she looked at the tank. Umbra had covered it with small biotech like patches that were beeping.

"Oh crud," she said as ran as fast as her married feet would take her.

Most of the inhabitants of the Beta Site were in the infirmary. Not because they needed a check-up, but because they were visiting someone who was in the red.

Shade hadn't regained consciousness since the dinner. Cosmo had immediately rushed him to the infirmary. They had found nothing wrong with him psychically, yet he was still experiencing great pain in the head and chest. There would be these random spikes in his heart rate. And they immediately ran diagnostics on him. Nothing could be found. Everyone was baffled. How could a boy be in such pain but there was nothing there to cause the pain?

Shade looked around. Everything was pitch black. He could only see his body like it was a light unto himself. There was no floor. Just black darkness. Then he heard a voice. It was cold as ice, yet it was inviting all the same. _Shade . . . Do you know why you are here? _He shook his head. _You are powerful and so you should have the ability to extend your power. I know who holds you back and I know who you want to destroy with your power. _To Shade's left a Statue of Shadow, his face as calm as ever. To Shade's right another statue appeared. This one was of the Black Arms Leader. _ And I know who you want to protect._ And one last statue appeared. This one was of Emily. Her face sad and fearful. He could almost hear each of the Statues voices.

The Shadow one seemed to say, "_You're too young._"

Umbra said his cold voice, "_You'll never be strong enough._"

Emily voice almost sounded as if she was crying, "_Shade . . . please . . . help me_."

The cold voice spoke again. _Here you must choose. Will you continue to be held back and work with you father. Or will you fight and let your full potential show. Either way you will show some way of protecting her. Choose wisely. _

Cosmo saw an immediate increase in his blood work. The sample that had taken from him showed some form of radiation. It was low and could not harm her but it made her worry. She had the scanner above Shade take a full diagnostic scan of his circulatory system. The machine did it job with help of the blue laser and the results appeared on the screen. It confirmed her fears.

His entire system was overflowing with this radiation. But the body seemed to think that nothing was wrong. She typed in something and his blood work scan of when they arrived appeared on the screen. The radiation was there but it was not near in the amounts that it was now. It was like it had multiplied a dozen times over.

She typed again and it brought up Crystal's current blood work. She needed to see if this was a singular occasion. The screen showed the same form of radiation that the old blood work of Shade's did. This new radiation was exclusively in Shade's body. Something new was here and Cosmo was determined to find it.

Shade walked around the statues, trying to decide. Either he could stay with his father or go out on his own. Each time he past each of the statues, their expressions seemed to grown stronger. Emily looked terrified and looked like actually tears were falling from her face. Umbra's fanged face soon became one veritable smirk. And Shadow's face was full show of contempt and scowling.

He went over to Emily's statue and tried to touch her just to make sure that it was in fact a statue.

The moment he touched her he felt like he was being pulled somewhere by the chest.

He was in a dark alley. It was night and the moon was full. All around him was fire and stone that had fallen. There were Black Hawks flying through the sky. Screams of people could be heard. He looked around to see Umbra Eclipse. In his hands was his staff and the energy blade that Shadow had described was there. His famous smirk was there and his eyes showed his blood thirst. Shade charged at his alien uncle but he passed right through him, and fell on the ground. But no pain came from the fall. He looked back and saw what Umbra's prey was.

Emily was huddling in against the back wall of the alley, her body bloody and broken. Her wings had rips in the tissue and they looked infected. At her feet was her father, Knuckles. His eyes were closed and a pool of blood formed around him. He was dead.

"You can't run anymore, girl," Umbra said, his voice dripping with venom and blood thirst. "Your parents are dead. Though, I must admit: They did put quite a fight. Your mother trying to trick me and your father taking me head on. But alas, they are both dead. The Old Prower Command has fallen. Every single one. Sonia, Sonic, Manic, Tails, Cosmo, every single one. Even Shadow, who at this very moment is awaiting my return to continue his interrogation session. Now only their children remain. And you shall join those who have fallen. _Pacris Sxatrim_" The blade of energy appeared in his hands and pulled it back. Shade ran forward.

He yelled in panic for her. "EMILY!"

Shade found himself in the Statue room again. He couldn't get that scene out of his head. The pool of blood. Knuckles' dead form. The tale of that all the adults were either dead of soon to be. And Emily . . . her broken and beat body. He couldn't let that happen to her. She didn't deserve that. No one did. But especially not her.

Their expression seemed to have changed again along with their stance drastically. Emily had her bloody father at her feat and her wounds were visible. Shadow no longer stood firm. He was bound by some circular devise, his arms and legs were spread eagle form. Hi body was bloody. There thousands of cuts and wounds like he had been put in an Iron Maiden. His face was covered in tears that were actually coming from the statue.

Shade was too afraid to find out what had happened to his father. It must be that he went being held back and wasn't as strong as he could be.

He looked up to the darkness, and yelled confidently. "Alright, whoever you are, I want to unlock my full potential."

A grey light came upon the darkness and each of the statues cracked up and crumbled to the ground. Immediately, Shade was immediately pain. He screamed in pain, and he knew no more.

Umbra charged at his opponent. She was tired. She didn't have his natural 'abilities' so he had a serious advantage. He transformed into a CHAOS Soldier and opened fire on the wide eyed hedgehog. He enjoyed being what he was. He was a god with every ability imaginable. With black Doom gone there was nothing that could oppose him. Nothing.

A thought transmitted itself to him from the boy. Umbra smiled. This was going better than he hoped. His feelings for her were becoming stronger. And with that, she was the key to his emotions. Soon, He would have the boy wrapped so tightly around his finger that he would kill his twin to protect her 'in the only way necessary'.

This was better than any political masterpiece he had ever crafted. This was too much fun.

**DUM DUM DUM DUM DAH DUM DUM! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I am really enjoying this. Are ya'll confused yet? I hope you are. It's more fun that way. **

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****- o . . .k. . . why did you say 'Yay Charmy'? charmy wasn't even in that chapter. He never got mentioned. However, if you can make a good OC for him that would be good, but what would you do about the whole Cream/Tails/Cosmo thing? I mean Tails can have only one wife unless you give him a harem.**

**Hissara****- Of course. Now days everything's a clique because there's not much room for anything original. And I kinda liked some sitcoms. Not Soaps. Like ****Boy Meets World****, or something. ****Even Stevens****. Sorry but I'm not a big fan of Steven King. I've read Dracula but King just kinda freaks me out. I know. The guy who made a sadistic alien shape shifter is saying he's freaked out by a guy who writes about wired clowns. Not my cup of tea. **

**Flowergirl220- Of course, how else do you think he got a successful marriage. He was on his toes. Eggman only had the motive of getting the Emerald. He's returned but that doesn't mean he won't appear. Manic was never good at hiding from her. Everybody else he was good at, he is a former thief after all. The Dracula reference. That was talking about how Black Doom is Shadow's father. The young vampire was Shadow and Dracula was Black Doom.**


	23. Heritage

Chapter 22 Heritage

Cosmo looked back at the screen. It was four in the morning. She was only awake on pure drive with the help of Diet Coke (with the caffeine, how else is awake) and chocolate chip cookies. She really hated working late, but Shade was still out of it and this radiation was really bothering her. She had never seen, read or even heard of this sort of malady. Shadow's blood work had showed that he had a similar radiation signature in his blood work. Sonia had a very faint signature but it was there. Yet it was in none of the other Hedgehog Triplets.

She turned back to Shade. She nearly screamed.

All around him was a dark red and black mist. Yet Shade was not harmed at all. The Computer showed that he seemed to grow stronger. She pressed the ALERT button, and there was a shrill sound. In the hall she could see the CHAOS droids take up position in the hallway.

Tails and Sonic ran inside the room their faces livid with panic. "What happened?" Tails blurred out.

He didn't' have to look much further He took one look at Shade and his heart almost stopped. He floated up with what looked like the mist pushing him up. His eyes opened to show black, completely black eyes, full of anger and . . . power.

Shade raised his left arm and then swung it back. Tails and Sonic flew back through the door into the steel walls. Shade floated down and walked straight through the doors. The CHAOS droids didn't bother him. He was in their programming not to harm. Instead they called two GERALD class to pick up Tails and Sonic and sent them to medic droids because the infirmary computers were sending them the signal that it had been damaged.

Shade walked through the corridors not troubled by the sentries. If they came too close the red/black mist would set upon them and crush them. The Alarm had awoken the others as well.

Crystal looked out into the hallway, in a pair of pink with red hearts pjs; her eyes were full of sleep. What she saw awoke her as much as pure injected caffeine would.

Her brother strutted down the steel the hallway with the eerie red/black mist around him. Immediately she felt power come from him but she could feel what it wanted her to do: destruction, death, power, fear.

"Shade!" she yelled at him.

He turned to face her. She now could see his eyes. They weren't his natural crimson color any more. They were black. Even more black than his own fur. He spoke to her in a voice that was his but wasn't. It was a combo of his and something as cold as the very void of space. "Stay out of my way or I'll kill you." The dark mist rushed forward and pushed her inside her room. She landed with a soft thud on her bed.

Crystal looked back at the door. The mist was still there but Shade was nowhere to bee seen. She tried to charge through but it was a like a solid brick wall and she couldn't get through. She picked up her cell phone. If she couldn't get her body through the mist, she would just have to get her voice through.

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This is . . . exhilarating. All this power coursing through him. It was like nothing before he had ever experienced. This was what Shadow had been keeping from him? The fool. This was too good to be locked up. He could do whatever he wanted. He was the most powerful being on the planet now. Umbra would never be able to commit the atrocities he had in store.

"**Halt.**"

Shade turned around to see a squad of five CHAOS class droids. This would be too easy. Shade stretched forward his hand and the mist obeyed it master. The mist rushed forward and wrapped around the droids like a python. And fulfilling it resemblance it began to constrict. The creaking of metal was proof enough for Shade so he marched forward again. As he got closer and closer with each step, the mist became stronger and stronger. Shade just past the hulking droids when he heard the explosion. The mist protected him from any flying shrapnel and the force of the explosion. He could feel the satisfaction of victory. A real victory.

The doors of the bedrooms began to all open. Shade looked at his comrades. Their faces were in shock.

Storm first approached his cousin, "Shade? What happened to you?"

Shade smirked. If you could have seen through the dark clouds in his eyes, you could have seen glee in them. "I have obtained my true power. I'm going to kill Umbra. Don't try to stop me. If you do I will have no choice but to . . . remove you."

Emily approached Shade. Shade had to keep him from crying. Just looking at her made him remember that vision. Even though they weren't there, he could remember every scar, every bruise, everything. "Shade," she said afraid, "why are you doing this? We can beat Umbra. Just give us some time—"

"No!" he yelled. "That's just it we don't have time. I saw the future of what would happen if I didn't do this. It was unbearable! I have to do this, and . . ." he looked at her as though he wasn't sure of himself, "I'd like you to come with me." He stretched his hand out. Even under the mist you could see the blush on his face.

Emily didn't know what to do. She felt stupid. Here was the guy she just adored with her heart, and yet she couldn't make up her mind. She should have said 'YES, I WILL" without hesitation. At first she thought it was her own self doubt. What could she do to help him? He had become so powerful. But now she could see. This wasn't Shade. True it had his handsome body, but this thing was cruel and vengeful. No, no, "No." She let her thought slip into her mouth.

The black clouds in his eyes receded for a moment showing them. She could see his eyes were full of joy that had just been sliced to ribbons. "What?" he stammered.

She felt bad for telling him. "I'm not going with you."

She thought she saw his eyes start to fill with tears, but they were soon black by the dark clouds once again. He reared his head back and howled. He howled like an animal in pain and anger. He rose his hand up and the mist obeyed its master. It drilled into the ceiling making quick work of the steel and rock. Sonic and Knuckles rushed in and pulled everyone away from the falling debris. Emily saw the boy she had once love fly into the sky, water falling from his face.

She had broken his heart.

And he had broken hers.

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Umbra frowned. This was going to make things more difficult. The girl. She had been the key. He had never expected for her to turn her feelings away from the boy. This was only a setback. The girl was still the key. He could just have to use his innate persuasiveness to convince the boy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow's com-link beeped. Thankfully, it hadn't gone off while he was in the meeting with those Chinese. That wouldn't have gone over well. He pressed th button; a picture of Tails appeared on the screen. "Hello Tails." That's when he noticed the cuts all over his friend's face. "Tails! What happened?"

Tails coughed, his voice was full of panic, "Shadow, it's Shade! Umbra! The Cut on Shade. It made him go crazy! He tore through the entire third level, an complete squadron of CHAOS droids, and is now flying in to some unknown location!"

"What?" he yelled into the tiny microphone. "What exactly happened?" He was on the verge of panic. How could this happen? What kind of father was he? How could he _let _this happen?

"The cut!" Tails answered. "It had some sort of genetic effect on him. It has done something to him mentally and physically. His eyes were jet black, he was surrounded with black and red mist, and he seemed to take pleasure in the destruction of my droids!"

Shadow couldn't stop himself. He felt the wetness come into his eyes. His son had fallen just like he had fallen. Was it a curse, that Shadow and his family must suffer so much torment, so much anguish? This was his fault! He should have seen the signs. That cut had healed far too fast. Shade seemed far more aggressive after receiving it. He was different. And now he was under Umbra's thumb.

"But I think there is still a bit of the old Shade still there," Tails concluded.

Shadow's eyes went wide with hope. "What do you mean?" he yelled frantically into the communicator, ignoring the Chinese soldiers looking at him like he was crazy.

"He found the other children. Crystal told the others that he was coming. He offered Emily to come with him to kill Umbra. He believes his new powers will give the ability to kill Umbra. She turned down his offer. I think she broke his heart."

If it weren't for the fact that his son had gone crazy and thought he could defeat one of the galaxies most powerful beings, Shadow would have told the little bat exactly where she could put her heart-break. But now, the situation had totally done a 180, in Umbra's favor.

"Where is he headed?"

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Shade flew through the skies of Russia, not bothered by the cold air. The mist had transformed into large energy wings that sprang off from multiple places. The Energy made him warm. And it kept the tears from freezing on his face.

Why? Why did she do that to him? He did this for her. He fought for her. He wanted only happiness for her. And she had ripped his heart out and spit on it.

Should he still go on with it? He had reason to protect someone who hated him. But the vision . . . if he didn't do this, it would come to pass. He would fight for the others, and his home.A voice spoke in his head, _Yesss, that's right. Fight and kill the one who has caused you so much grief. Kill Umbra._

_Who are you?_ He said inside his head. This voice was really getting on his nerves.

_I am the voice of your Black Arms heritage. I am your power. These wings you see around you are a manifestation of me. Of your power. With me you can do anything. Without me, you will fall to your death. Literally at the moment. But to full ascertain your power, you must understand. You are only half Black Arms. You do not serve Umbra. You serve you, and no other. You may wish to protect some but you serve no one. You must unlock your anger. Your hate. Your ambition to rise to power. Let nothing stand in your way and power will be given. You wish to face Umbra. He is in China. Face him and kill him._

Shade smirked. He let these emotions wash over him. Already he could feel the power. This was going to be so much fun.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"He's headed straight for you," Tails replied.

Shadow closed the comlink. This war was already personal. Now Umbra was aiming the gun straight for Shadow's heart. Hopefully, he and his family could come out of this one without too many scars. Hopefully . . .

**Hey All you lovely people. I hope this clarifies a few things, not everything to keep ya'll in suspense but just enough. This getting so tragic. I AM TOTALLY LOVING THIS! Thanks for the reviews so far. We'll now it's time to answer them.**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper- I guess your right. Sorry. I was focusing on the main points of the chapter sorry. I got to see what you got planned to keep me posted.**

**XT-421- Why would I deny it? As you can see it fro this chapter the collateral damage as already started to build. I hope China has a powerful monster relief fund or they in mucho grande trouble. And nice allusion to Anakin. He'll need all the luck he can get.**

**Kokie- The 'he' was Shade. Sorry for the fast updates. I've had a lot of time on my hands lately so I've working on this a lot. That's a good cast list so far. But who are you going to have to be Auron? Shadow? I' like to see what you come up with. **


	24. The Power of Family

Chapter 24 The Power of family

Shadow looked up into the sky. The Storm has already begun to gather. The Black Arms were not pressing forward, and the Chinese had no wish to provoke them. All this pain. He had received his orders from the President. If possible he was to take Shade alive so he could be helped and this malady removed from him. If not, then his orders were to eliminate him, at all cost. They could not afford to have another powerful piece on the board. This had to end in their favor. He just wished things could be different.

For ten minuets could see the color red against the lightning and in the middle a little black dot. Shade was coming after Shadow. He believed he was going to fight Umbra, and probably Umbra would affect his mind to believe that Shadow was Umbra. That was the only thing that made sense. If Shade wished to fight his old man, he would get the fight of his life

Sonia was not having a good day. If you were to look her day you would blanch. First, she got sent to the Ukraine, not high on her list for travel. Second, it was not for a vacation, she got deported to fight Umbra's advancing troops into Europe. Third, she met up with the Dark Lord himself. Fourth, she engaged him in combat, which wasn't the best thing she could have done. He clearly outmatched her in speed, stamina, power, and knowledge of the opponent. And fifth, she had learned, via com-link, that Umbra had telepathically corrupted her son and he was heading to China to fight his father. Yep this was not a good day.

Especially right now as Umbra had transformed into Black Doom and was firing dark blades at her.

"You cannot win," He said to her in the booming voice of Black Doom, "I know all of your techniques. And I have an ace in the hole at his very moment."

This only enraged her even more. How dare he make her son his ace! "YOUR BLOOD IS ON MY HANDS!"

Even in the body of Black Doom, one could tell that Umbra was smirking.

Shadow awaited his son. The courtyard of the imperial palace had been cleared. It was the place where they would cause the least amount of damage.

He could see that the red cloud had grown in size since he last looked at it. He could already feel the Chaos power searing from such a distance. It felt equal to his own.

A voice spoke in his ear. It was familiar and yet it was not. It was if two voices were speaking. One family, the other demonic. _Hello, Uncle. Miss me?_

Shadow spoke into the sky, "Shade, it's me. Your father. I'm not Umbra. He's lying to you."

_Lies. I knew you would say that, Uncle. But I can see through your veiled words now. I have my own power now. Your shape changing won't save you. Even you believe taking my father's form and voice will stop me . . . HA! Your power is weak. I will destroy you and protect this world._

The red cloud was only a mile away and even now Shadow could see the changes the genetic interference had had on his son.

The body looked demonic. The red on his quills and body was now some form of gothic design. His gloves were gone leaving only shape black claws. His boots were also gone leaving room for the long bone white spike that had grown out of his skin. Also along his legs were these metallic like frills that seemed like little curved knives. His tail had grown and from the middle onward towards the end it started to become a grayish color. But the eyes that were the most radical. There was nothing there. Nothing, except a black darkness. Black Doom.

"_I told you that you can't fool me_," Said Shade in this doubled voice, "_but if you believe you can defeat me in that form, very well_." He stretched his hand forth and a ball of black energy appeared. "CHAOS NIGHTMARE!" The Energy blasted forward, with the sound of a thousand screams. Shadow dodged easily the first blast, but that did not end the barrage. The blast split into creatures that looked like pale human ghost.

The ghost footed toward him. They opened their mouths and screamed. The screaming was like a billion sharpened nails on a million chalk boards. Shadow put his hand up to his ears to stop the sound from damaging his sensitive hearing. Even though he did this, he could feel the crimson liquid inside his ears. He took one hand off the ear and raised it. "CHAOS BLAST!" The red dome of energy escaped his body and ran through the ghost like a welder through butter. He pulled back his hand. "CHAOS . . ." he aimed the energy at Shade. But he did not see the monster before him. Instead he saw the crying boy he had first met. His face fell. He was trying to attack his own flesh and blood with deadly force! This was his only son! The family he had longed to have for over fifty years.

The energy in his hand dissipated. He hung his head. He couldn't bring himself to harm his own son.

That was the worst mistake he could have done. Shade smiled with fanged teeth. He yelled to his 'Uncle' again, "_CHAOS CONQUEST!_" The red markings on his quills and body flew off, leaving his black fur. They became like red monsters that were made of the flames of Hell. "_These are your creations, Uncle. You gave me this awesome power and now you shall feel the brunt of the very power that you created!_" Shadow's remorse was no leaving his body. He could fight these beings. They were not living.

The flame monsters speed forward with rivaling speed. Shadow ran forward. He had been herald as one of two fastest beings on Earth. He wasn't going to let these fiery abominations beat him. He pulled out his S-32 and started to open fire. The sizzling bullets only seemed to pass through the Hellish creatures.

They caught up to him and began to shoot black flames out of their mouths. One of these flames hit him in the arm. If not for his years upon years of discipline he would have screamed in horrid pain. This was like nothing else. Except for the poison. This was like the poison he had been drugged with on the Black Comet. This fire was the poison!

Shadow turned around to face these creatures. It had worked on the ghost, why not these? "CHAOS BLIZARD!" He opened his mouth and a blizzard that could freeze Miami came rushing out. The creatures of fire could not bear to be in such cold. They screamed; they cried in agony. Shadow spread his cold chaos on to Shade.

If the boy's eyes could be seen through the black shrouds, you would see the shock in his eyes. The ice and snow went right into the wings of energy. They hit him with less of their full power, but he felt that, none the less. He didn't scream. That would demean his new status and give his Uncle satisfaction.

"_That was pretty good. But let us do this as proper. You once taunted me for not being able to do our family technique. Prepare to be surprised. CHAOS CONTROL!_"

Shadow saw his son disappear in a flash of blue light. He closed his eyes. This was not going to be easy. His son was in the Time space. Even if he did Chaos Control, he would come in too late. He would have to calm his mind to try to detect him.

He emptied his mind of any emotion. If any come, he would lose focus. An eye opened. His Chaos eye. The eye that could see that which hides within a Chaos ability. It had taken him years to discover and master this ability.

He looked upon the courtyard. Straight in front of him, was his son, rushing at top velocity fist aflame. He needed to move quickly. He raised his left hand in the Chaos space.

Shade's fist stopped. He had been blocked. "_Impossible!"_ Shade's fist was in Shadow's left hand.

"You didn't think you knew everything did you?" Shadow said smirking slightly. Umbra wasn't letting his newest toy know all the tricks of the trade. This was good.

Shadow increased the pressure on Shade's hand. Even with Shade's newest abilities, he was nowhere near his father in matters of physical strength. Shadow's sensitive ears could hear the bones cracking. This may be his son, but those hands were what he channeled most of his energy into. Shadow needed another advantage right now. "You need to get a grip on yourself, son!"

Shade looked up at Shadow. His facial expression was that of anger. Downright fury. "_HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT YOU ARE MY FATHER! YOU SHALL PAY FOR THIS! I'LL RIPE YOU APART!"_

Shade kneed Shadow in the stomach. Shadow's eyes opened wide. IF Shade had aimed any lower he would have been _very_ upset. Shade jumped back into the sky. The energy wings appeared again to support him. "Shade," Shadow said, regaining his dignity, "I'm not Umbra. I'm Shadow. Your father. Umbra's using you. Ask me anything. Only something I would know."

Emily was crying. This was her nightmare. She felt that this was her fault. The boy she loved had transformed into some monster and she had broken his heart. If she felt guilty before for not immediately saying 'yes', now she felt like she had cause the entire war.

She had locked herself in her room. Her eddy bear was her only company. Not that anyone had not tried to enter her room. She said she didn't want to see anyone. Leave her to misery. Her parents were calling her name. They were trying o talk to her. But now she only heard her father's voice. Of course his voice included his huge gloved hand beating on the door. She didn't pay them any head though. This was her fault and she knew it.

There was some rattling above her. At first she thought it was just her father's beating on door getting so hard he was shaking the ceiling. Then she looked to here not only rattling but the sounds of grunts and complaints. There was a thud and a albino white female bat wearing a purple nightgown falling right through the air vent. The vent burst open with the force of Rouge falling.

She fell at the foot of Emily's bed with a large thud and a groan. "I'm okay," Rouge managed to say before she started to groan again.

Emily got down off of her bed as fast as she could. "Mom!" she yelled at the bat woman, "What in the world were you doing in the vents?"

Rouge smiled gently as she rose to feet with Emily helping her up. "Well, Tails made the doors of a special titanium alloy so we couldn't beat our way in. And Tails needs to make these vents bigger. I'm not as young as I used to be."

Emily couldn't help but giggle at her mother. "Now," Rouge continued brushing her nightgown off, "why are you all puffy-eyed and not letting anyone in?"

Emily eyes changed immediately. She rushed back into bed. Her face in her pillow. Her tears in the face. "Go away!" she said tearfully muffled by the pillow. "I don't wanna talk to anybody.

"How 'bout you listen, and I'll talk." Rouge sat on the edge of the bed. "When I was in high school, there was boy bat. Never tell your father this. I was head over heels for Jeremy Hawkins. He was also for me. I know this is hard to believe but your mother was shy when it came to boys back in her high school years. He was smart, funny, and he never gave up. I always thought I could never be what I had always dreamed of doing."

Emily had gotten out of her tear fit enough to listen to her mother's tale. "What did you want to do, Ma?"

Rouge laughed. "I wanted to be a singer. Imagine! Me? Your mom being a singer like Amy Lee?'

"Who?"

"Never mind. Anyway," Rouge paused as if trying to remember, "I tried to get noticed by Jeremy. I didn't notice him look at me in class with those dreamy eyes. I went fashion model. I know your father says I look like one but then I was very meek about my figure and was a bit of a nerd." Emily's mouth dropped. Rouge laughed. "Yep. Your father the brawn married a high school nerd! Anyway, little did I know that Jeremy did the same thing. I liked him the way he was. But he took it a bit to far. While I came there in a dress with eyeliner, lipstick, and high heels. Jeremy came in the popular of the age: gothic punk.

"While I was getting wolf whistles, I saw Jeremy. His whole outlook had changed. He wasn't the boy I loved anymore. He had become dark and gloomy. He thought I was stunning. I thought he wasn't him. I asked him why he was acting like that. He told me that this was cool. We argued. It soon got out of hand and we said some things we didn't mean. I he had said something that made me cry and I ran. That was the last time I saw him. The next day, after I had gone back to my normal nerd outfit, I found out what had happened to Jeremy Hawkins. He transferred. It may not seem like much, but he really like me and I really liked him. Over one thing we went crazy. I guess it was for the best."

Shadow was flying through the air in pain. Shade had asked him a question. What was Shade's middle name? Shadow had no idea. To Shade that proved that Shadow was Umbra. He had sent Shadow flying with his own special move: Chaos Shadow.

The black energy was still pounding him into the stone wall of the Beijing courtyard. Shade yelled at him in fury, "_YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD BEAT ME? I AM NOW THE ULTIMATE LIFE FORM! NOTHING CAN STOP ME, NOT EVEN THE BLACK ARMS EMPIRE._"

Shadow looked at his son. Every minute their fight went on, Shade became more and more mutated. The red fur became more gothic. The leg spikes were longer. And now, scales seemed to have found their way on to his body. He needed to end this and soon, but how? Shade's Chaos attacks were powerful, and he couldn't kill his own son. No. He had one other technique that could work, but it had only been tested once. We'll there's no time like the present.

"Shade," Shadow managed to say through the pain of the dark energy, "you may not believe me that I'm your father, but this will stop you from hurting yourself any longer. CHAOS OVERDRIVE!"

Time stopped. Not like in Chaos control where the user was moving so fast that it felt like everyone was frozen. No. This was truly it. Time was under Shadow's control. The black energy stopped. Shade floated frozen in the sky, his face livid. Shadow escaped the energy. Here he had control. He floated toward his son. He wasn't sure exactly what would happen once he released this. He opened his Chaos eye once more. He saw where the Chaos energy was being concentrated the most. This would be tricky. If he was a little off course, he might kill Shade.

He brought his hand back. This technique was extremely dangerous. He rushed it forward and hit the large sac of Chaos energy. If that worked, than he when pulled out Shade would at least lost most of his power behind a locked barrier.

"Chaos Overdrive," Shadow commanded quietly as he drifted down toward the ground. The time lock went away and the world started up again. Shadow say above Shade was falling. He was unconscious. The red energy wings were gone but the other mutations were still there. Shadow caught his son. He wouldn't let his son live like this. No. there had to be a way to reverse this. At least the physical part. The mental scars this would leave would take some time.

And through his weak link to the Black Arms, he could feel anger and hate beyond comparison.

"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG!" Umbra screamed in fury. "You have ruined my most enjoyable toy. I'll kill you!" Umbra was no back in his normal form. But his eyes had lost their normal arrogance. They were full of blind rage. "_PACRIS LRETIX!"_ Giant ghost began to appear all around. "Make the living suffer!" He took hold of his staff and charged Sonia.

Sonia wasn't dumb by any means. During the fight she had learned that Umbra was far more powerful than her. That was when he was calm. Now he was angry. His composure was gone. He was going to kill her if she gave him an opening.

He charged like Shadow in a rage. His Chaos blade at the end of his staff swinging with utmost precision and skill. He rushed and brought his blade down to stab her straight through the heart.

There was a flash of light somewhere in the east. The world froze over for what seemed like a second. The next thing she knew she was back in forest near St. Petersburg. She was in the arms of her husband. He was bloody. He was _really _injured.

"Shadow!" she cried in alarm. Beside her was her son. He was mutated with scales and gothic designs.

"Get him first," Shadow breathed before passing out.

She looked up to see Cosmo with her medic squad of droids and Crystal.

She loaded the two hedgehogs on the stretchers. She prayed that no more of her family would be taken from this world.

**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This chapter was SO hard to write! I hope it wasn't too corny for all of ya'll. I'm still learning on how to do fight scenes. **

**Now for the reviews. :)**

**Hissara****-Don't worry I won't read it. But this chapter needed a healthy dose of EVIL! MUHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! And I don't think Umbra's too happy, eh?**

**XT-421****-GOOD! I like longer reviews. The longer they are, the more detail I know that you have noticed. That makes me feel good. I hope the way I put this whole teenage relationship. Love is so complicated!**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****- Two fics. Nice. Don't take on more than you can handle, like me who has left two fics behind. Don't worry though, they'll be back on the update board soon enough.**

**flowergirl220-As you see in this chapter, Shade doesn't know that Umbra is using him. During this whole fight he thinks that Shadow is Umbra in Shadow's form. But he is still being influenced mentally by Umbra. For instance, his temper is far worse. And the techniques he uses are smaller versions of the ones Umbra can use.**


	25. Operation

Chapter 23 Operation

Sonia was in the waiting room outside the infirmary. The two closest men in her life were in there, and she was out here helpless. Shadow had been taken in with multiple shrapnel injuries. His ears damaged. The ear drums were starting to deteriorate, but thankfully his Chaos energy was helping him as much as it could. Shade was in far worse for the wear. His physical mutations had slowed but not stopped. The scales and the mental connection Umbra would be extremely difficult to remove. And if that wasn't enough, his body wasn't healing its wound like it normally did. It was healing slowly, almost non-existent. This was a night that would haunt her if things went badly.

Along with her in the waiting was really the rest of Earth Protectorate. Emily was so tense that a pin dropping would have made her jump. Crystal was almost as tense. Beside her was Lucas who had Crystal's hand in his. He was trying to his own fears for his friend and Shadow. Jet wasn't here because he was on an air strike, but Wave was inside the operating room helping Tails run the medical droids and Hurk and Storm were out in waiting room, playing Go Fish to calm themselves. Sally and the President were off to meet with dignitaries of basically the rest of the world to decide what to do with Umbra. Manic was sending all available droids to fight off the two fronts: Beijing, and to finish the Ukraine. Amy was trying to keep herself from crying. And Whirl was passing in front of the infirmary along with his father.

The two had been in the emergency room for hours. None of the people in the operating room had come out, but droids had come in with equipment, blood, water, skin grafts. No one dared to look inside. Sonia feared the worst and so did everyone else. Neither of them had looked good when they gone into surgery.

She was so kept in thought; Sonia almost did hear the small voice beside her. "Sonia? Is Shade going to be okay?"

Sonia looked to her left to see a young batgirl, her eyes red and puffy from tears. Sonia forced a reassuring smile. This was hard. "Don't worry. Cosmo and the others will fix them up in no time."

Emily looked at her; the tears were starting to flow again. "What will I say to him when he comes out? I hurt h—"

"Don't think like that!" Sonia interjected softly. "He'll understand he's not an idiot. I just hope it will be my little Shade that comes out along with my husband."

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_Don't you want the power?_

Shade was in the statue room again. They were in same positions as before. No thing had changed.

"Why should I trust you anymore?" he spat at the voice. "You told me Umbra was in China and that he would be in my father's shape. Instead, I find that I have been fighting my father the entire time and almost killed myself. You had me try to kill the man I've wanted to know since I was born! You bastard!"

Shade approached Shadow's statue. The sight of his father in the torture devise still sickened him to no end. He swallowed his fear and touched the statue.

_Squish_

"Ewww!" Shade exclaimed after he saw what he was standing in. He was standing in biotech. Only one race used biotech: the black Arms. And they were everywhere. There were soldiers everywhere. They walked; they flew; they burrowed. And they were all moving like they were ecstatic. Like something great had happened for them.

Shade walked down the hall. He was thoroughly freaked out, and Black Arms walking through him was not helping in the least. The tunnels were a maze. But he was following a voice. Not just a voice, but his name. He was being called. Someone, hopefully from his planet, was aboard. He ran as fast as he could. He came to the end of the tunnels. And what he saw made the blood in his veins freeze.

In front of him was a dead end with all sorts of devises for holding prisoners and 'interrogation'. At the very forefront was a prisoner, beaten, bruised, and so bloody you would think he should already be dead from blood lose. His once perfect black and red fur was no stained with dirt and blood. His gloves were now shreds on the floor. By some miracle, his old jet boots were still there, but now they were so blacked and beaten, he didn't think they would ever work again.

"Sh . . . ade . . ." his father breathed. "Why?"

"Father," he approached the beaten man, "I am here." Shadow did not head him. "Dad!" he screamed. "Don't die! Please! Stay!"

His pleas were cut short. For he heard a cold laughter approached the chamber. It came closer and closer until the source was to be seen.

Umbra strutted in, a bottle of Sake in his hand. He strutted over to Shadow. "I hope my little brother is enjoying his suite?" he asked mockingly ash patted Shadow on his broken head. Shadow took a good bit of air to keep himself from screaming in pain. "I told them to give you the best possible treatment. I believe this is your second voyage with me, my dear brother. I think it would have been most productive of you, if you had stopped Shade."

Shade's eyes almost popped out. _What?_

"Yes," Umbra continued, his fanged smile, "pity he, Crystal, and Shade's little girlfriend had to die. They would be able to spread much more use for me. Entire generations of Half-Black Arms. But that what happens when you don't plan ahead. At least they still live here." Umbra gently pressed a claw on Shadow's thinning white chest fur. "But maybe, you'll be able to see your grand children, little bro. Thanks to little Shade's mind set in my grasp; I was able to set up some of the others. Course, I used the other children as starter kits for the experiment on young Emily. I think only Whirl survived. I had to use their generation or things would not be nice. And you will be able to witness your great-great-great-great-great-great- grandchildren fight by my side, if things go according to plan."

Umbra waved his free hand and four pairs of footsteps came down the hall. Both father and son gasped at the morbid (well more morbid) sight before them.

There were three hedgehogs and a bat. At least that's what they used to be. One was Shade, his transformation far, _far_ more advanced. He seemed to have no more fur. Only black and red scales adorned him now. The gothic looking designs were larger and the leg spikes were longer and they were bone white with red veins stretching through them. Next to him was what he thought was his sister. She was morphed just like he was. Her fur was scales and the former red fur was in gothic designs. Instead of legs spikes, her legs were twisted backwards. Her eyes were white and her hands were claws. Emily was almost the same other than she was wearing about nothing other than a like bone looking bikini. Her wings were huge, yet they flowed behind her like a thin purple cape with large bumps. Her eyes were the same except they were no slited like a snake. There were black tattoos all over her body they were like the symbols on the Eclipse Ray. And lastly Whirl was the mostly drastically transformed. He had four arms, only one cyloptic eye and his scales were now lime green and two large scars ran across his chest. His quills were bent and twisted into various shapes. Coming out of his back was a single black raven wing. In each of their hands was a large claymore sword.

"Little brother," Shade heard Umbra whisper, "this is your future."

He was back in the statue room. He was crying. What he saw . . . if he had been stronger, there would have been no chance of that happening. Now . . . he had come to close to ending a peace filled future. To causing the deaths of all his friends and family. To becoming a monster. To becoming putty in Umbra's hands. To injuring his father. He broke down on his hands and knees. How could he do this? He was weak. Plain and simple. He had failed his family, especially his father. The very father he had dreamed of having since he could remember. He had failed his friends, especially Emily. The girl he had loved with his entire heart. He had transformed into a monster. This was all his fault.

He looked around the room, through his tear filled eyes. The Umbra statue was gone. Shadow's statue was that of scene of the room he had just left. The four mutations of life, Umbra with his arm around Shadow and a wicked smile adorning his lizard face, and Shadow, beaten, broken and immortal was crying. His stern manner was gone. He had nothing left to live for. There was nothing. His seriousness was gone to leave a poor broken man whose grief of so many lives had burst through.

Shade looked up into the darkness that made up the ceiling of this horrid place. He yelled into it, his voice full of fury. "I know who you are, Umbra. Show yourself!"

The room shook violently. The dark ceiling split into black clouds under a red sky. They twisted into a spiral letting one figure slide through the middle. Umbra floated down, his wings and arms wrapped around his body and his head down like he was in trance. He touched the floor. He awoke. His eyes jutted open and his wings spread. If it hadn't been for the fact that Shade hated this guy's guts, he would have found the sight impressive.

"Do not think me a fool, child," Umbra spat at him. "Did you enjoy my handiwork? Impressive, no?" He walked over to Emily's statue. "I think my illusions worked rather nicely. You still believe them, I see."

"You lied to me," Shade spat with a voice far beyond his years. "I trusted my own blood to kill you. You told me that through the 'voice of my heritage'. What a bunch of crap!" The room shook again.

Umbra face was stern as stone. "I don't need you approval to take what I need. You are in no position to fight or demand things from me. You can't even do a simply lasting Chaos Control without my aid. If you think that I will let my new plaything go that could seriously grant me the greatest of the assimilations then you have no mind to begin with."

"Come on . . . Come on . . ." Cosmo breathed as she went through surgery. She was having no success with Shade's mutations. The body's defenses had finally realized that these things were not suppose to be there but they were of little real help. The mutations were just spreading too fast. Her and four medical droids were working on Shade. Seven other droids were operating on Shadow: three for the shrapnel, four for his ear drums. All her experiments upon Black Arms DNA were utterly useless. If she could find the source of this monstrosity she might be able to stop this.

_Beep! Beep!_

She gasped and turned a glance at the scanner screen. In Shade's circulatory system, an anomaly had appeared. She ordered the droid make the picture larger. It accessed the computer and the electron microscope showed a patch of blood work. It was Black Arms blood.

In Shade's and Crystal's bodies there was a delicate balance between Hedgehog DNA and Black Arms DNA. They were born that way so they had the abilities of a High Black Arms such as Chaos techniques, but the body and mind of hedgehog. This patch of blood work was not native to Shade's body because the DNA was so varied with so many life forms. It had only just appeared on the scanners. This had to be it.

She set up the x-ray up. Now they were so small you didn't have to leave the room. She put it over the area the blood work was centered. Right over his left arm. Right over where he had been injured in St. Petersburg. Cosmo flipped the switch on and the radiation fired into his body. The screen depicted the blood work flaring up and was spreading as thin as it could. She increased the width of the radiation and the penetration power to cover the entire area.

Statue room shook violently. Umbra looked around surprised.

"What?" Shade said smirking. He could take wild guess that Dr. Prower (Cosmo) had found something. "No more light shows?"

Umbra scowled at Shade. "This isn't over, brat! I'll have my weapon. I'll have the Emeralds. In Chess you have to sacrifice a few pieces for a victory."

Umbra dissipated into smoke and so did the statues. The room continued to shake. The darkness that was the ceiling began to crumble. And the pieces were falling _inside _the room. They weren't small. Shade ran has fast as he could in the small space to avoid being crushed.

Then . . . the shaking stopped?

Cosmo looked at her work. The foreign blood was neutralized. Shade's mutations had stopped. And some of them were staring to reverse. The scales were disappearing before her eyes. And the bone white spikes had started to shorten.

Cosmo looked over Shadow. The medic droids were working relentlessly. Her eyes darted over to the control room. Tails and wave gave her a thumbs-up with a smile.

They would make it. This was their first major victory in the war.

**Everyone. You can breath now. THEY LIVE! YAY! I hope ya'll are enjoying this as much as I am. Maybe I should send this into SEGA. NOT! No way will I let them get a hold on Umbra. MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY PRECIOUS! **

**Now I will answer all of your little reviews. **

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****- Ok. Is all ready in production or I am I just sitting here talking about something that doesn't exist?**

**flowergirl220-I think that this chapter answers those questions. But there won't be any physical deformities on Shade; Shadow may just be a bit deaf. I might change my mind about that but for now; he'll be a little deaf in his right ear.**

**XT-421-Having a mass murderer chase you is never a good thing. Thanks. Just 'cause they're all alive doesn't mean there won't be scars from this. You can't just shrug this sort of thing off. I ain't that easy. But thanks again. I hope you continue to like this.**

**Koike****-I know. I found of a demon form of Shadow and used it for the base of Evil Shade. I edited my own version and might put it on my Deviant ART account so keep watch. I think you should change Cream to Tikal. Let me guess. Tikal will be Rikku. Rouge will be Paine, and Amy will be Yuna. Am I right or am I right?**

**Well bye everybody for now. I'll work hard on the next chapter. It will contain A LOT of Shadow/Sonia, Lucas/Crystal, and Shade/Emily fluff so if anyone's got any suggestions about it, THEY ARE ALL WELCOME! **


	26. Emily, are you therOH MY G!

Chapter 24 "Emily are you ther—OH MY . . .!"

_The light? Why did the light have to be so bright?_ Shade squinted his eyes to try to adapt to this small star that decided to be right in front of him. He closed his eyes once more and then opened them again. The painful light was gone. No giant star. Only two beautiful blue stars in a white furry sky. He recognized them in an instant. He looked down this goddess face. Her fur was wet from tears. He could smell the Dr. Pepper she had been drinking earlier. "Angel . . ." he breathed, his voice weak.

She blushed, partly from being so close to him, but mostly from his words. "Don't scare me like that!" she exclaimed quietly. She felt something on her back. His weak arms were wrapping around her. If her face was red now, then it was crimson. "Wha—?" she breathed.

She leaned in closer to the bruised hedgehog. Her heart was beating a 100 mi per hr. Was this real? If so she was the luckiest girl on the face of the universe. Only a little closer.

Touch.

Their lips meet. Unbridled passion burned through them. The man she loved was kissing her. The woman he loved was kissing him. This was their dream come true.

Though extremely tired, another black hedgehog watched this scene unfold before his aged eyes. He had to admit. His son had good taste. And so did the girl. He smirked as he drifted off to sleep, the memories of his own dating experience gliding into dreams.

Days past, with no new reports on major Black Arms advancement. More so as they were going back. They had decided to pull back most of their forces to protect the Eclipse Ray.

There was much joyous news around the 'newly refurbished' Beta Site. The damage from Shade's escapades had been repaired. Most everyone was back at the site. The President had been relocated from the Site back to the States, but Loveless decided to stay claiming that 'the bastard's blood would be on her hands.'

But that's not what was on everyone's minds. Everyone was really getting caught up in their own things. Mostly relationships.

Sonia sat in Shadow's lap. His face had a few scars to go along his 'interrogation' scars. Shadow hated them but Sonia said they gave him character. This is the most peace they had in years. Finally. No having to go onto suicide missions or having to deal with 'rebellious teens'. Peace at last.

"Dear?" Sonia said to her husband who was deep in thought.

"Hmm?" he replied.

"What are you thinking about?"

He chuckled. "Just the little romance novels that seem to be popping up all around us."

She laughed. "If you me our children, then you better get that pen and paper out. You could steal the rights."

He put her down and went through a desk in their room. He produced a pen and pad. "Alright shot." he said with a completely straight face.

Sonia giggled but went along with his joke. "Our daughter is unofficially dating Tails and Cosmo's son. Our son is officially dating Knuckles and Rouge's daughter. Charmy and Cream are married and apparently with Creams extremely drastic mood changes and craving I would crazy if I didn't see that she is pregnant. And all this happening during World War III! I need to see if the people during WWI and WWII had to deal with this."

Shadow chuckled. "They probably didn't. They didn't' have such young teenagers fighting in it. While we have trouble keeping them out of it." He sighed and put down the pen and paper and brought his lovely wife into his arms.

"You know it wouldn't be good if I got pregnant during a war don't you?" she said seductively in his ear.

Shadow smiled. "I wouldn't worry about it. With all these complicated relationships, I wouldn't want to go through this with another one, two, three, or four."

Sonia laughed but blushed all the same.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucas and Crystal walked along a beach, hand in hand, the sun setting. He wore swimming trunks; his purple plant like hair was soaked from swimming. She wore a baby blue bikini. Both of their faces were red.

"Lucas?" Crystal asked, a smile on her face.

"Yes?"

She turned around and leaned in closer towards him. Her lips found his. Their first kiss. His lips tasted of oranges. That would make sense, seeing he is part plant. Hers were of strawberries. They held each other in the other's arms. They were so close that they could feel the others accelerated heart rate. They beat as one.

They pulled back. "You . . ." stammered Crystal, her face as red as her stripes. "I . . . ?"

Her spluttering was ceased by a boy's finger. Its owner looked into her eyes. "Not a word," he whispered. "Though I like to hear that angelic voice, I have another activity for you lips."

Lucas leaned in again. He had to be the luckiest guy in the world. Their lips met midway. They stayed in the hologram room like that for the remainder of the hour.

Shade had to admit it: hospitals sucked!

He hated being stuck in this bed, propped up. All he could do was watch DVDs and play video games, but that had lost it grandeur. He had apologized to the girl he loved. Got to kiss her. His day was going good right until he realized he was stuck in a hospital bed for 3 weeks maybe if the medicine worked at its full efficiency. So he was stuck until he was deemed 'healthy.'

At least it would have been better if he had a few more visitors. Most everybody had all visited come when he woke up. That had been a week ago. Even Emily couldn't stay in the room with all the time. He had to stay in room while everyone else was filled in about the event going on outside; he was stuck in an underground hospital bed with a bunch of flowers surrounding him. Good thing he wasn't allergic . . . yet.

The door creaked. Shade's ears perked up. An albino white batgirl slipped through the door, a carton of vanilla ice cream and two spoons in her hands. "You'll never believe," she said laughing slightly, "how hard it was to sneak this from Cream. She seems to be craving vanilla ice cream at the moment and is having Charmy run all around the base looking for this stuff."

Shade would have laughed more than he did if it weren't for the bandages around his chest and waist. Vanilla was his favorite. Everyone knew it. Maybe Cream wouldn't miss just one carton.

She sat in the chair beside his bed and they talked. Anything and everything they talked about it. He told her about some of the pictures he had drawn but couldn't show her because had had left his portfolio at Prower Command. That's when she really surprised him. Behind her back was a thick blue binder. "What's that behind your back?' he asked.

She handed to him, a sly smile on your face. "I knew you loved to draw so I made sure you got your stuff from the old base. When I saw you hadn't I grabbed it and went with it."

He could have kissed her. This is exactly what he did, on the cheek, of course. "You're amazing!" he shouted flipping through the pages. In clear plastic socks were sketches of landscapes and friends and family. As he was going, Emily saw the hem of a pencil sketch of a dress, but Shade flipped passed it too fast.

"Wait!" she said urgently. He looked up at her confused. "Can I see that dress pic you just passed?"

Shade blushed and handed her the binder. She flipped through and saw the page she had been looking for. The drawing showed her in a pristine white flowing gown, a veil over her face and a bouquet of roses. Just looking at it made her blush. Shade chuckled nervously. "I was trying to see into the future," he blushed as red as his stripes, thinking that line was _extremely _corny.

Emily, however, loved it and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "You are so cute when you try to sound cool," she giggled at her own joke, and Shade put on a mock hurt face.

Shade was released from the med in two weeks. Now that he was out he was bouncing off the walls. He and Emily were officially going steady so you usually didn't see one without the other, hand-in-hand.

Now don't start thinking that Shadow and Sonia were in complete bliss. After their romantic evening, Shadow kept two eyes on both of his children's relationship. He was glad that now that they had a boyfriend and girlfriend respectfully, they were staying away from any more chances to go topside. But he couldn't be at ease. Umbra hadn't shown his slimy head in a while, and even though he hadn't got to see them grow to what they were now but they were still his children. It was all happening so fast. He had barely gotten to know them yet they were still focusing all their attention on someone other than him.

He felt like he had lost someone again without even really getting to know.

Shade strolled down the metal hallway. Emily had asked him to come by her room. She really wanted to talk to him about something. So he thought it couldn't hurt if he arrived an half an hour early. Nothing wrong would happen.

He approached her door and by a cruel twist of fate showing her darker side, he forgot his manners and didn't knock.

The door slid open Shade stepped into the semi darkness. "Emily are you ther—OH MY . . .!"

A scream pierced the darkness. Shade ran out the room as fast he could, his face was past the known colors of red. _ I AM A PERV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You just saw Emily without anything on! YOU ARE A PERV!!!!!!!!!!!!_

He didn't even notice Whirl or Storm as he passed them and knocked papers out of their hands. All he had in his mind . . . were those curves and those . . ._ STOP RIGHT THERE! I AM NOT GONNA TURN INTO A COMPLETE PERV! This was a fluke. Maybe she didn't even see me, but I screamed at the stop of my lungs. I am DEAD MEAT!_

Emily was breathing heavily to try and gain back the air she had lost from her scream. She was just coming out of the shower when Shade saw her. In nothing. No towel, no shirt, no _pants_. Nothing. Her face was as red as his had been when he had left. This was not turning out to be a good day.

_What would mom do? _ She mentally pleaded. _ What would mom do? She'd go find him. _ Emily approached her door before she thought the idea out. _But first, to put on something._

Shade just kept on running. He must have already ran through the base at least four times, and the base stretched for a about square miles and a hundred miles of tunnel.

He felt like the biggest pervert and moron this side of the Milky Way. How could he forget to knock on a _girl's_ door? That was something that had been drilled into his mind since he was little. And yet he had still done it!

He sat down on a little chair outside a bathroom, his head in his hands. He felt like hitting himself like a protective older brother would do.

A soft hand was on his shoulder. He looked up to see a fully clothed Emily. He blushed. He didn't 'check her out' like Whirl and Storm edged him on about. But he was still embarrassed. "Emi, I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo sorry. It was my fault. I should have knocked. I just seem to be a screw up. I should have . . ."

She lifted his head up, that cute smile that he loved so much. "You should let me do the speaking for once." He felt even more embarrassed, and she chuckled. "I know you think you're a little perv, but I do forgive you." She kissed him passionately. To a passerby they would just be another teenage couple. They broke apart. "You may do some stupid things sometimes, and I may get mad at you, but you are the only one for me." They continued their kiss. They didn't notice an enigmatic hedgehog leaning against a wall, toothpick between his teeth that were performing a little grin.

"He defiantly got my way with woman," he chuckled remembering an incident involving an open door, flowers, a box of chocolates, and a hairdryer. He left the two young lovers, put his hands in his leather jacket and went on his merry way. He was amazed that so much happiness could be found in a bloodbath. He was starting to see good plotline for a book. Writing books were so much fun, especially when you had so many interesting characters.

**Here's my try at true fluff. PLEASE DON'T kill me. I like some parts of life. Not all just some parts. Anyway . . . Any advice would be most appreciatied for future fluff. REALLY, REALLY APPRECIATED!**

**So without further ado . . . THE REVIEWS!**

**Themunks****-I'm gonna look up that song, sounds like it be pretty good. I'm not exactly sure how much we have to go until the end. I know id' hat e end it too that's why I am planning at least 2 sequels. One will be a direct sequel the other I'm not quite sure what to do with it. It explains a whole lot about the main sequel but I'm not sure whether to put it before or after the main sequel. **

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****-Good I hope it is filled with the power of YOUTH! Sorry, I've been reading a lot of Naruto Fics so I couldn't resist. I gotta ask though, will you put Shadow or Eggman in the story or will they just be watching this on TV?**

**flowergirl220****-WOW! You know you were the only one to give the advice I asked for and it was so long. Not that I hate long. I LOVE LONG! I think I used a lot of your suggestion, if not sowwy. I'm writing these answers at 9 pm with no caffeine all day! I'm being tortured here!**

**XT-421****- I've noticed that every time you review you are really pulling for the Shade/Emily pairing. Are they really that lovable? Just a few tapes on a keyboard and you got an award winning pairing. YAY ME!**

**We'll folks. I must leave you for now. But I leave you with a little hint on the next chapter: Bem. Dea-Dea-Dea-That's all Folks!**


	27. The Bem

Chapter 25 The Bem

Shadow stepped out of the shower in a rather bad mood. They had just gotten a transmission from the British. Umbra had taken their Chaos Emerald and in the process destroyed their newest submarine. A ship that could run for years with just the power of a single Chaos Emerald. It had been stationed a thousand ft below sea level in the English Channel. And yesterday the Iranians sent in that an oil manufacturer had been completely and totally obliterated. The plant was trying to use the Gold Chaos Emerald to power itself. But that had sparked Umbra's interest. Four. Four Emeralds in Umbra's grasp. One with the Protectorate. If that Ray was activated, Earth had no hope. This was turning out to be a very unproductive week.

Not only that, Christmas was only a few weeks away. He hadn't had a real Christmas in years, literally. He would love to take his entire clan to a fancy restaurant but their seemed to a few problems, if you get what he means. He really missed the tree. Decorating a tree seemed pointless when Sonia, his then girlfriend, had told him about it, but once Sonic and Knuckles made him put up the tinsel and some ornaments, he saw the fun in it. Now he had children. He wanted to make their first Christmas with 'Daddy' special. Maybe he could some stuff from Central City. They were still in the Green for safety. He might be able to grab a few things and then go back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

If it weren't for the massive war that was going on above his head, Miles Prower would have been board out of his skull. He was doing the same commands over and over again. Umbra taking sweet time doing whatever he pleased. Grabbing Chaos Emeralds left and right for his plans. Tails had sent CHAOS droids to try to take the Eclipse Ray, but Umbra himself was guarding it. He could easily find weak joints and servos to dismantle. To Tail's chagrin, Umbra sent the dismantled war machines back with a note.

Don't leave your toys lying around.

Your rival.

Tails quickly hid the 'returns' from everyone and started to extract the video footage from the fight. All he found was static in the entire memory space. All command prompts were completely erased.

Umbra was really become a dagger at Tails' side. If it weren't for his sense of morality, Tails would have nuked Umbra's forces a _long _time ago, but he wouldn't sink to that level of desperation. Not with so many Earth lives that would be lost from the massive invasion that would surely come.

A beep sounded from the huge control panel before him. Tails sighed, sipped a bit of his coffee, and answered the call. The monitor showed an elevator shaft with an older black and red hedgehog. "What ya got for me?" Tails answered the call.

Shadow chuckled. "I'm going topside for a while to head to Central City. This won't be a sad Christmas."

Tails smiled a little. "Can you pick up something for me? I _really _need to get Cosmo something. Maybe some earrings, I'll send you down my credit card."

Shadow nodded and the call ended. Tails felt a pang of jealousy, but let it go. They had jobs to do, and Shadow was really more apt to deal with Umbra and his anchorage of soldiers.

_Besides_, Tails thought pleasantly as he smiled a leaned back in his chair, _Shadow will get to do all the Christmas shopping. Not me, like every other year. _

Tails leaned back in his chair. It was so peaceful.

Too peaceful.

Tails lay in his chair. He was fast asleep, drool sliding out of his agape mouth. Just then, the computer began to receive a transmission. Tails didn't hear it but kept on snoring. A green skinned, gold eyed human looking woman appeared on the screen. To say the least, she wasn't exactly pleased to see a snoring fox right in her face. She made a coughing sound.

"Heyuwhatitits!" Tails grogged as he came awake. "May I ask why there is someone on my screen?"

The woman did not laugh or make any form of outer gesture. "Commander Prower, I presume?" She said formally, calm as you please.

"Why should I give out any information to anyone whom I don't know during a war?"

Tails thought he saw a bit of a smile go across the woman's face, but if it had been there, it vanished instantly. "You are very astute, but I assure my race and I am not sided with Umbra Eclipse. We are the Bem."

If Tails was paying any form of attention, he defiantly was now. The Bem was an extremely scientific race that had made the de-robotizer to fix the damage that Eggman had caused. There had been no contact with them since a probe that Tails had sent probes and discovered their home planet had become a battle field for the Xorda and then unknown Black Arms. Apparently, the victor had been decided. "I thought you were all gone," Tails said now noticing the drool in his face fur and trying to whip it off discreetly.

The woman nodded gravely. "Yes, The Xorda and the Black Arms brought their fight to our planet. We were able to escape from the fight, though many of us weren't happy to leave the place that has always been our home, but we had no choice. I must speak with the Hedgehog know to you as Shadow. We have information that he will most defiantly need."

Tails nodded but said, "Why not just relay the info to me? It would be far easier."

The Bem shook her head. "What is easiest is not always the best course of action. At the moment, Umbra is unaware of our existence; we would prefer to keep it that way. We need to meet with the Gorlan, known to you as Shadow, soon and secretly to convey this."

And with that, the line went dead. Tails had never gone so fast to pull back up a line. He even used just an audio communication because it was faster.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow hated malls. He couldn't see what the opposite gender saw in them. All the hustle and bustle with so many people just running like chickens with their heads cut off. And the Christmas season was worse. Then everyone was running to find the perfect gift for the imperfect someone.

He almost thanked God for the fact that mall was virtually empty. Now-a-days, the malls were mostly computerized. That meant the real living workers were at home with their families. No obnoxious nerdy tellers asking him for his John Hancock or saying that his wife is hot.

He had already grabbed the gifts. He just really didn't want to go back to the base. For one, all the local radio stations there were in Russian! Yes, Shadow could speak Russian fluently, but who wants to listen to a song in a different language all the time for months on end when you can just listen to your favorites here? Secondly, it was good to get away from all that chaos for a few hours. He liked to be with his family and friends, but they could really drive the enigmatic hedgehog up the wall.

Shadow walked through mall with his bags upon bag in his arms. How he wished they could make a robot for holding the bags. It would save the male element so much trouble. _A fountain. _He sighed and placed his bags by the bench. He just sat for a moment admiring the beauty of the water flowing out of the spouts. He smiled. "I wish I could have a peaceful life like this."

"Who are you, mister?"

Shadow looked down to see a little human girl, about five. She had two brown pigtails and big brown puppy dog eyes. "And what are you doing away from you mother, little one?" Shadow replied in turn.

The girl slid her foot across the floor blushing. "She's in that jewelry store with Daddy," she answered in such a cute voice that it seemed unreal.

Shadow chuckled a bit, wondering if that was what his little Crystal sounded like when she was younger. "You shouldn't run off like that. Your parents will get worried."

"You never answered my question," the lass observed.

Shadow was a bit taken aback. "I'm Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."

The girl giggled. "Funny name."

Shadow rolled his eyes. How many times had heard that from children? Too many times.

"Come, Alisha," spoke a very distinct male voice.

Shadow looked up to see a man in a black suit, a 5-o'clock shadow, and a woman with in a maternity dress. Following behind them was a young man holding multiple bags. Shadow felt a good pang of sympathy for the man.

"Daddy!" Alisha skipped happily to her father. "Daddy, you wanna meet Mister Shadow?"

The man smiled at his child and looked up to see Shadow. The smile vanished to become a scowl. "No, Alisha, I do not."

Shadow rolled his eyes at the man. _Just my name and my face are enough to turn almost any face to a scowl. Is it a CURSE?_ "You have a very well behaved child, sir," Shadow said trying to make a stab at conversation.

"Thank you," the man said plainly. "We must be going." He led his family away but not before giving Shadow one final sneer.

The man should be thankful that he had meet Shadow now instead of years ago. Back then, Shadow would have first stared him down than probably shot him. Now, Shadow couldn't be the Bad Ass Anti-hero he was then. With his rank and his family, he had too much to gamble on straightening out some smug punk.

_Time flies away, with these little wonders. These twist and turns of Fate . . ._

Shadow picked up his phone, a small black Slivr with a picture of his family as background. "Hello?"

Tails energetic voice filed through the small speakers. "Shadow! I just got contacted by the BEM! They want to meet with you! You need to get back here! LIKE NOW!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ceneca 10075 walked the halls of her ship as quietly as she could. She was above the planet atmosphere. Her ship was cloaked by a field that bent the light around it to make it invisible and undetectable, but if the Black Arms had discovered the signal for the transmission to Prower she would be dead. They could be locating her now. If Umbra got his hands on her and her ship, the Bem would be out of the picture. Permanently.

She just hoped Shadow could get back to the Earth base soon. Ceneca couldn't locate him with her ships scanners. There was too much Black Arms presence already on the planet. She was lucky to find Prower given the fact that the current Black Comet was hovering around the other side of the planet.

Now all she could do was wait for Shadow to respond to the message she had left with Commander Prower.

. . . .

. . . .

. . . .

Waiting is boring.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Not that Shadow hated Christmas.

He hated the hiding of presents till December the 25th, and you never knew if the receiver had already found the gift and ruined the surprise. Christmas could be such a drag sometimes.

After hiding the gifts to Shadow's satisfaction, he headed to the control station where Tails would be. Along the way, he saw something that caused the usually stoic hedgehog's eyes to bulge out of their sockets.

Laying on each other was Shade and Emily, kissing so passionately you would have thought that their mouths were one thing. Their faces were so past crimson that it didn't seem possible. Now, a peck here, a peck there, which was okay. NOT, however, just fully making out while the father is out. Shadow knew Shade was an extremely smart kid, but many relationships had to go straight into marriage because of 'temporary moments of insanity'.

A mischievous smile touched Shadow's face. He really wished his phone had a camera in it. "BOMB!" he screamed tearing the young lovers apart. The looks on their faces were priceless. They were as white as sheets. Shadow chuckled. Their eyes were size of dinner plates. He soooooooo wished he had a camera on him, but beggars can't be choosers.

Shade regained his compose (but his dignity was gone) and glared daggers at his father. "DAD!" he yelled angrily at his father, "Could your timing be any worse?"

Shadow continued laughing. This had to be the funniest thing he had ever seen. "On the contrary," Shadow said wiping a tear from his eye from laughing so hard, "I believe my timing was the best in the world. He continued walking down the hallway, laughing like a maniac. Of course, he saw his son and his, with time, daughter-in-law glaring at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tails drummed his fingers as he waited for the scanner to find the Bem ship. Shadow had arrived just five minutes ago and now they waited so he could speak with the strange green woman who so wished to speak with him. Shadow was beginning to wonder if she was a pop star on her world. They can't start without the star; make them wait.

Suddenly, a transmission appeared on the screen. It was prerecorded. The green woman appeared on the screen again. Her ship was on fire and there was rubble all through it. She, herself, was rather bloodied. Scrapes were all over her body. It was rather creepy though since her blood was purple. "Attention," she screamed through recording, "I have been detected by the Black Arms. They are opening fire on me now. They are not scanning for transmissions so I take this opportunity to complete the fail-safe of my race. My people knew this would be dangerous. If I was caught by Umbra, my ship would tell him everything he would need to know about my people. Even now two Comets head to destroy my people and assimilate our technology. I was given something that will tell you all the information you will need and the entire repository of Bem knowledge, from history, to science. I thank you for this. May the stars shine down on you and may the One give you strength to kill Umbra."

Her face faded off the screen. Another window appeared on the screen. So much information! Files upon files were being inserted into his computer. The entire culture of the Bem was at tails finger tips. All their powerful science!

A few external hard drives beeped. They were full! They were supposed to hold a billion gigs (1 gigabyte= 1,000,000,000 bytes)! She had meant what she said when said it was all of their knowledge.

A projector above Tails head flashed to life. It projected a hologram of the green skinned woman. "Hello, I am Ceneca 10075. I will be your guide through the Bem library. Before we get started, I have been preprogrammed to show you an item that will aid you."

Another hologram appeared. This time it was coordinates. "The ship that brought me here also sent a capsule down upon your planet. It contains a blade. A blade forged with Black Dooms blood."

**I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY for the long wait. With the Thanksgiving Holiday I got really busy. On top of the turkey and ham, I had to build a Roman coliseum for Latin class. Not an easy task. But enough of my problems. **

**I'm not sure if any of my readers are familiar with the Bem. They are an alien race from the Archie Comic but I wanted to use as much of the current stuff as I could. O, and just to let all of you people who have read the comics, the Xorda won't appear. They got killed. Sorry, it would be too complicated for me to do 3 alien races. Sorry. **

**But enough Sadness. Time for the Review! WHOO WHOO WHOO WHOO!**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****- Right know, as tired as I am, I don't to know why Miato Gai's favorite catch phrase has anything to do with Rikku, Yuna, and Paine. Still, good luck with your story.**

**Hissara****-Stupidness? :( I feel hurt. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Ok, I'm over it. Still this was my first try at some real fluff. I didn't expect golden reviews for this chapter. Oh, as for Silver and Blaze. To tell you the truth, after the funeral, I forgot about them. Sorry. I was really trying to get through with the relationship with the family. Sorry. Oh and just to ease that. You remember in the very first chapter, that Blaze was pregnant. I regret to say, that the child died. Miscarriage. Blaze never really got over it. It would be too hard to just push the child in there without any other reference. For instance, where the hell had he been the whole time! However, if everyone lives, I may have her get prego again. Just maybe.**

**XT-421****-I'd hate to see what would happen if you did go boom. Bad image. Oh, I've started reading your **_**Blessings of Life**_** fic. Thankfully for me, since I don't' have internet all the time, I have mastered the art of the copy and paste and can read fics anywhere! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA! And I noticed that you **_**REALLY**_**enjoy using the M rating to your advantage to just tease the audience. I'm not big into sex scenes so don't send me what really happened in that tavern. No sex for me. **

**flowergirl220****- O don't worry. I knew that this didn't mess well, but I knew that some people would be really angry if I didn't do something soon and I was dying to put that pervert thing in there. I've been reading a lot of Naruto fics and every time Jiraiya appeared I thought of this scene. SUPER PERVERT! PERVY SAGE! I take no offence. This was not a onetime thing for fluff. It will appear in the other stories along with this one. So BE PREPARED!**

**Well, I hope you all have a happy holiday season! Me, I have got to put up Christmas decorations. I have always wondered why people have children other than to survive. It's to make the children to all the work the parents would normally have to do!**

**O, one last thing, I'm doing so research on shadow governments but can't find enough. If somebody could find something on it I would be **_**really **_**grateful!**

**PEACE!**


	28. A Glint of Hope

Chapter 26 A Glint of Hope

Shadow ran faster than he ever had in his life. The blade that Ceneca had designated was in Switzerland. Why not Russia? They were supposed to get it, not Umbra! At least, she had got it where there were no Arms . . . yet. The Swiss had already found the item and were waiting for Shadow to come a take the 'small space shuttle.' Thankfully, the Swiss were more than eager to give the Protectorate the capsule. This was one more reason to get rid of the lizards.

He had already encountered resistance. Black Arms were swarming. They were becoming bolder and bolder. The domain of Umbra was spreading from that one island in the Atlantic. One little island with the most powerful communication array in the galaxy.

Shadow thanked God that he had these Hover boots. He hated to have to run with just his feet. He could do it, but who in their right mind would want to do that? His blue brother in-law didn't qualify for sanity. He led a bunch of teens into a war zone. HELLO!

Even though he knew the Bem were one of the most advanced races he had ever encountered, how could they have developed a way to kill something that could easily regenerate his limbs and his could shape shifter? Still Shadow was never one to question a free ride. Of course, sending the stuff to _Switzerland _didn't truly make it a free ride.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow had to admit, the Bem knew what they were doing when they made this blade. It was shaped like a Japanese Katana, just as long, just no hand guard. It was made of something similar to steel but _far _stronger. For example, to test the strength of the blade against the katana he owned at home, he sliced a bolder in half. When he looked at his handy work, he saw that the blade had left such a smooth cut sandpaper wouldn't be able smoothen it any more. Too bad he didn't have this when he was younger. Still, he could scare the hell out of Sonic. And to wield this while breaking up Shade and Emily's make-out sessions. He could scare them to death

Thank God his little girl didn't have a boy friend. He would never have any peace. A teenage girl going out on dates scared him. He knew she was just as smart as her brother but still. All dates in general scared him when he was younger. He was never for one for romance in his opinion. Sonia disagreed. Shade and Crystal were proof. But still he was terrified of dates. Now, just to think that his children were dating scared him to the point of breaking. Apparently, Shade had inherited his mother's confidence in that department. Shadow had never been able to live down the giant poster that Sonic had put up over his apartment building.

**Shadow the Hedgehog is scared of **_**DATING!**_

Almost the entire male population of Station Square had called him in stupid girly voices. Then it was broadcasted on the local news. Every single damn channel he turned to had the same $*&%!^ banner! Lucky for him, revenge is best served with a flaming torch and a girlfriend who can seriously deliver a powerful knee to her brother.

Tails was in a dilemma. Should he tell the world's leaders, they would fight over the info for their own purposes. Most of which would be non-beneficial to the big picture. He needed someway to hide this info and yet leak it weakly so it won't look what was. Thankfully, he was genius so he make it look he was a scientific breakthrough. Course he would have to come up with all the notes. Not the easiest thing in this insane world to do.

He put his fingers up and began to pinch the bridge of his nose. Why did everything have to be so complicated? Couldn't he get an easy metaphysics problem to pass the time? _ I knew I shouldn't have lost that Theoretical physics problem book by Steven Hawking._ Tails sighed mentally. He almost didn't notice the warm hands wrap around his neck.

"We really should stop meeting like this," said a very beautifully seductive voice in his ear.

Tails smiled and brought his wife into a deep kiss. "We?" He said with a smile as he brought her out of the kiss. "I always thought it was just you and I making out. Not we"

She rolled her sapphire blue eyes and gave him a playful punch to the arm. "What sort of scientific breakthrough are you and I working on?"

Tails causally and rapidly typed into the saved transmission. Cosmo listened intently. When it was over she looked at her husband with serious eyes. "What do you plan to do with all this?"

Tails ran his hand through his hair and pounded his head on the control panel. "I swore that I would never let my science be a part of politics, and here I am with the most powerful science that Earth could obtain, centuries before our time if I use it, everyone will want and could cause political turmoil. Twice in my life I am the verge of a breakdown and once again I have no idea how to approach this task."

Cosmo smirked, "And what, pray tell, dear, was the other thing that you were about to be on the verge of a breakdown?"

Tails guiltily rubbed the back of his head. "Well . . . It was to ask you out for the first time and not look like a complete and total idiot."

Cosmo shook her head. "You sort of did look like an idiot then," he hung his head in defeat. She brought her hand under his chin, pulled his chin up and smiled at him "But you were my idiot."

He instantly perked up, came to his feet, twirled her in the air and brought her into a very passionate kiss. They played a game of tonsil hockey and broke apart gasping for air.

"You know," said a dark yet teasing voice from the doorway, "it would probably be better if you got yourselves a _locked_ room to do that in, in case one of the little kiddies came around and saw this."

"Shut up, Shadow!" Tails said at the hedgehog. But his eyes were on what was strapped to the enigma's back. A long sword was there in a black scabbard. "Where you get the armory?"

Shadow smirked. "Our friend left her package of at the wrong address. I simply did a Good Samaritan. And there was this." Shadow pulled out a little disk and put it on the table. A hologram of the Bem on the screen appeared.

"Greetings," the Bem said. "This is defiantly the most important component of our achieves. We, the Bem, have longed suffered from brushes with both the Black Arms and the Xorda. However, we are a peaceful race and we cannot effectively defend ourselves. The Xorda on the other hand were very proficient in the art of war and have waged war with too many races to count. The Black Arms were different. Their leaders, Black Doom and Umbra fought outside all the concept of warfare that the Xorda had ever seen. No honor. No primitive tactics. This was outside everything they had every faced. Along with the fact that the two leaders seem to be immortal. We knew that everything must have a time to die. We waited outside one of the great battles outside the Loramian system. There Black Doom himself fought and slaughtered most of the Xorda army. But, one of the attack machines was able to successfully launch a hit on Black Doom and draw his blood. Black Doom took no notice. Since it was such a small wound, it healed almost instantly. However, the small blood sample was collected for study. We were able to conclude that his genetic structure was almost that of perfection. His blood network seemed to be always adapting and reconstruction to fit a different environment. However, it seemed to draw energy from the Chaos energy of that of Xorda Emerald fragments.

"Soon after we were able to acquire a sample of Umbra's blood. A large sample. For one of my race, it would be enough blood to circulate throughout our entire body. We almost concluded nothing. One of our drones monitored umbra and we concluded that every time he changed shape, the blood changed with him to match his environment and species that he was mimicking. We were entirely baffled. We had seen adaption . . . but this was horrendous! This was how Doom knew so much about each of the races that he conquered. Umbra was the ultimate spy network.

"We tried everything to try and destroy bits of the Umbra sample. Everything we tried ended in that the sample would just regenerate the lost blood. Nothing seemed to happen, until we stumped on a breakthrough. One of our researchers made a needle using a tiny bit of the Doom sample. She stabbed the Umbra blood and to our great surprise, the entire Umbra sample in the secondary container vanished. Like it had never been there. We soon, repeated the test. The same result came again. We were all joyous. We had a way to defeat the Arms.

"Extensive research into the result showed that a lower Black Arms could not kill a higher Black Arms. Only one of equal status or higher. Black Doom was the highest and umbra was not his equal. We knew if we could get rid of the information train, we could cripple the Empire.

"Our happiness came to end when we were informed that the Xorda were dead. Who could now deliver a weapon to kill the Arms. We couldn't. We are a peaceful people and it against our sacred code to do so. However we finished the new and improved blade. It took much research into such things before we could make it but we believe it will be useful. Whoever receives this message, we pray that the blade will find its destiny and that this menace to life will be dead."

The image faded and the disk went silent. Shadow pulled the sword from it sheath and looked at it with a cruel smirk on his face.

Tails looked at his comrade apprehensively. "What are you planning?"

Shadow chuckled. "I believe its time I met that old scum bag face to face for a nice cup of tea."

Shadow left the room and Tails couldn't help but feel a glint of hope.

**ATTENTION: READ THIS!↓**

**YEAH! Bam! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA! I have been **_**dying **_**to write this scene. All that info was really clogging up my brain. Well, I also hate to say that we will soon be done with Legacy. However, I will set up a poll to ask if you people want be to make prequels. One will be about how Shadow met Sonia and all the disasters that led up to him marrying her and leaving for his mission. The other will be about a pervious conquest with Doom and Umbra. You get to see how the Father and First Born acted around each other. However, do not get the idea that these are sequels, they are only prequels. There are two sequels in the works: Return of an Empire and Return of the Opposite Twins. So I leave no in suspense, just like Alfred Hitchcock.**

**REVIEW TIME!**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****-Sorry, I've got so much info going in my head I got your new fic confused with someone else's. My bad ******** . Hope you forgive me (pout)**

**XT-421-****I hope you don't get slapped for that trick, even though it is pretty good. Sorry I haven't got to read much of your story lately, been studying. However, right now, I am where Randal has proposed to be given rule of Hyrule. I will continue reading when I can.**

**Themunks****-How are you lost? I will draw you a map if you wish if not, TELL ME! I wish for all my readers to be able to follow! ******

**flowergirl220****-Calm down, if you remember two chapters ago, Crystal and Lucas were making out in the hologram room. And Charmy is trying to keep his pregnant wife Cream from killing him. The Comets are Black Arms fleet ships. The Black Comet from Shadow the Hedgehog was Black Doom's, however the rest are about the same size. Umbra's is just the same as his father's. And yes, people's face can go that red, seen it.**

**I don't know if I will update till after exams and the holidays, so if I don't get to, from myself a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!**


	29. Converging Forces

Chapter 27 Converging Forces

Jacque De Peue hated the aliens. Even a man of his fifties couldn't escape the misery that followed them. They had ruined his job, his home, taken his youngest son in combat, his elder son in St. Petersburg when they went to help the Russians and his wife when she went across the Channel. His entire stock of newly caught fish that he had caught himself had been lost in a fire. Unfortunately for the beast that started it, he had a Colt-89 on his side.

That's why he was more than eager to help the figure before him. A cloaked Anthro had come to De Peue with a proposition. He had said that he was Special Forces and needed to get out to the island out in the Atlantic. De Peue didn't ask any questions why nor about the sword on the shrouded Anthro's back. All he wanted was justice to be served on the monsters that had ruined life.

He was a bit concerned when the Anthro had told him where exactly they were going. He had stories about this place from men in the French Royal Navy that he had been in his younger years. But now this place was the Enemies' headquarters. The Anthro showed no fear. He seemed, in a rather unproven way, rather eager. He scoffed at the Jacque's apprehension. Well, this old man was never one to stand down from a challenge.

The old fisherman's schooner was soon on the high seas again.

Mr. De Peue still didn't know the name of his passenger. That didn't bother the passenger though. Shadow just stood on the prow the ship. He had chosen the old fishermen for this because coming on a full military assault of this new fortress would be impossible. For one, they knew virtually nothing about the defenses. Umbra had gotten around to disabling all the spy satellites. Secondly, the old man was just as eager for blood as Shadow was. Shadow needed someone who was willing to help yet was subtle enough. This boat was so quiet that the Black Arms wouldn't here it and it was so relatively small that their radar wouldn't be able to pick it up. It also didn't hurt that this old man was a war veteran. Unfortunately for Shadow, his French was still a little rusty and France was the closest country to the island. Thankfully the man knew perfect English and could speak it without his native accent.

Shadow still was not careless to let the man know his identity. He had dressed for the occasion, so to speak. His cloak covered the black vest with all the ammo he would need. Four of his S-32s were at his side tied to the two belts that he wore and his black cargo pants hand enough explosives to bring down the Great Wall. Now all he had to do was kill the Devil himself and blow up a veritable Key to a Very Alien Hell.

The boat landed on the sand with silence. Shadow helped De Peue unload the larger bomb that they had loaded onto the small boat. They hid it behind a small out cropping of rock. This bomb was only a distraction. A very, VERY big distraction that Shadow could use to move most of the forces away from the Eclipse Ray. Once the arms were away he could use the C-4 to remove the Ray from the face of the Earth.

Jacque tied his boat to anchor. He knew he might not get back on it. That didn't worry him. He would meet back up with Death as an old friend. Even if Death took him home, he would be able to see his family again. Besides, this old Frenchmen would take some damn lizards with him.

Although, he was beginning to wonder about his comrade in arms. The Anthro had yet remove his hoot and Jacque didn't even know his acquaintance's name. How did he know if there weren't aliens that could speak French and English? If they could master the technique of space travel, shouldn't they be able to learn a Earth language?

Jacque put these questions from his mind. He may not have proof but he knew that this figure was of this Earth. He just knew this sort of thing.

Shadow and Jacque placed the bomb in the rock cropping. They buried it with dirt so not to alert much attention. It didn't have to be a perfect job. The disguise was only for a few minutes anyway. No need to go all out. Keep it simple.

After they were done, Shadow removed his hood in front of the eyes of the shocked veteran. "Your—"

Shadow clapped his hand over Jacque's mouth. He shushed the old man. "If you want the Enemy to hear you," he whispered calmly, "I suggest you scream my name to the heavens. They have their own version of a bounty on my head. So I suggest you shut your blow hole!"

Jacque nodded and pulled his old gun from his holster on his side. "Comment prévoyez-vous d'obtenir à fort? Le fort sera probablement réparé depuis que vous avez attaqué en dernier.- How do you plan to get to fort? The fort will probably be repaired since you attacked it last."

Shadow nodded. "Si je les connais, je vous suggère de rester ici. Ou mieux encore, de revenir au port. Mon renforts seront bientôt ici. J'ai besoin de vous parce que votre bateau ne serait pas reconnu comme mes compagnons de véhicules seront connus dans un battement de coeur.-If I know them, I suggest you stay down here. Or better yet, go back to the port. My reinforcements will be here soon. I need you because your boat wouldn't be recognized like my companions vehicles would be known in a heartbeat."

The old man shook his head. "Je ne suis pas aller n'importe où sauf en place. Je vais à obtenir que la justice est due à ma famille. Je sais que vous êtes difficile. Je ne suis pas aveugle au monde en dehors de ma petite zone de pêche. Je sais de vous, et je sais que vous êtes plus que capable de prendre à l'ennemi. Mais je ne vous permet pas de les traiter tous. Je veux que ma juste part. Ils ont pris ma vie en dehors, je vais maintenant prendre les leurs.-I'm not going anywhere except up. I am going to get the justice that is owed to my family. I know you are tough. I'm not blind to the world outside my little fishing zone. I know of you, and I know you are more than capable to take down the Enemy. But I won't let you handle them all. I want my fair share. They took my life away, now I will take theirs."

Shadow subsided and let the old man joy him. They trudged on up the cliff face, with no more a word between the two old veterans. They climbed in silence.

When they reached the top of the cliff, a gasp escaped their mouths.

The entire island was like the inside of Black Doom's comet. It had been turned into one large biotech mass. Poison ooze slimed down wall faces into ditches. Tentacles and tendrils swayed and swung from walls and floors. Black Arms crawled all over everything looking for the next morsel of enemy life to devour.

"Mary, Mother of God!" Jacque exclaimed as he performed a cross over his chest. Shadow's nod concurred with the man. This was the most advanced Black Arms structure he had ever seen, other than the Black Comet. It was true that the old fort had been turned into a Black Arms monstrosity when he had blown it up before, but now . . . It was a monster in its own right.

If there was one thing had learned while on the Black Comet, it was that the thing could think and attack. It was alive. That made it almost impossible to enter unnoticed. Right now, they had gone under the radar since the fort hadn't spread its venomous tentacles of influence. They stood on solid earth, but the moment they stepped on the fleshy ground, some form of alarm would go off. Right now, subtly was needed. He knew his show of force would come later. He needed the shadows and silence to accomplish this mission.

"Frightening, isn't it?"

Jacque came out of his panic-stricken stupor. He nodded to the Anthro beside him. "How are we supposed to get it let alone attack?"

Shadow gazed out on to the malformed terrain. He could only imagine the numbers of Black Arms that were starting to breed in the hell hole. If left alone for many years, this place could become a giant factory of them, spitting out millions a day. If he set foot on the demented soil, he would be under heavy fire. But if he got some form of air vehicle to fly over, he still would be spotted. He had to do something. His entire plan centered on being able to get into the center of the complex. To the Eclipse Ray.

He kept of scanning the landscape for any form of inspiration. He saw Black Arms troops marching, their weapons in hand. Next there were Black Arms riding on what looked like pads with cargo. They were propelled by what looked like dark red flames--!

There lied the answer before him. He could use his jet boots to glide over the tormented soil; the fort would believe that it was just like the cargo pads. As long as none of the other Black Arms saw him, he would be fine.

"Frenchmen." Shadow whispered to Jacque. "I want you to climb on my back. If you really want your revenge do as I say. Otherwise, I will leave you here."

Jacque complied without a word. He climbed on Shadow's back which made them look like a lopsided Igor from the Frankenstein.

Shadow braced himself, and charged forward. "Let the counterattack begin."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tails steered the fleet south-west. He was in command of the flagship of the Protectorate: EPS Enterprise. And no, Tails had not named it for the fictional ship, instead for the multiple real warships that served in multiple wars.

It was worthy of the name. The ship was grand in both size and looks. It was about twice the size of a USA aircraft carrier. And three time the armament of that of both a modern US battleship and a Russian. It was shaped like his old Blue Tycoon yet much larger and could easily destroy the old model. And that wasn't the only thing that Commander Prower and brought with him.

Behind his flagship, there were many more ships, though smaller in size. Each one held one of his comrades. To the annoyance of each of companions, each one was a dark grey. He said it was for the purpose of hiding who was the commander of each of these vessels, when really it was just so their egos didn't get in the way of fighting.

In the middle of the diamond formation of ships was a medical frigate. However it wouldn't stay in the air for long. It was to land on the surface, put up its force field and help the wounded. Also it had come with equipment ready to dismantle the corrupted land that the Black Arms controlled.

That wasn't all. Two more fleets were coming through at different directions. GUN was leading an all out offensive. They were done with small strikes. They had sent the full blown airships. And the lead commander of the force was Commander Sharon Loveless. Yep. That's right. Loveless had been able to scrounge up enough ships for this mission. Although many of the higher command weren't happy about the other air fleet that had been called to destroy Umbra.

Flying in from the south, were air ships each bearing smiling mustached man as their insignia. Shadow and Tails had convinced the Doctor to come out of retirement to face off the only true force ever to kick his ass. He was able to rebuild and redesign many of his forces. Now, older warship flew along with new brand new ship to destroy one very old enemy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Umbra Eclipse tinkered with his most wonderful weapon. Though the Ray could not blast an entire army out his way, it could bring soldier after soldier to him. No Black Arms, whether they be in another galaxy could resist the call of both him and the Ray. The loss of Doom had made his mind link with the rest of his race. Though he could still make them follow previous orders and add new orders to go along with the original Doom orders, he could not make them attack a new planet. He needed this machine. It was his failsafe. Once he had the other Emeralds, he could power it. He already had four in place. The other three were soon to be collected. And the last one would be the most fun. Taking it from his young brother's cold, dead hands.

Little did he know that the 'fun' was about to begin.

**(Evil GRIN!) Are you guys wondering what the heck is going on? GOOD! THIS IS A MILTARY ASSULT! Shadow took the old French guy to help him sneak in. Lower a few defenses. O and that is REAL French at the top. Well, at least that's what Google Translator gave me when I inserted the sentences. I only know a very tiny bit of French on my own. REAL FRENCH!**

**I know I said I might not update before after Christmas, but I had some free time to work on this and now . . . NO MORE EXAMS! WO WO WO WO! I AM FREE! For a few weeks any way. **

**Consider this chapter a present from the OBERON! For people who don't know who that is, LOOK AT THE AUTHOR'S NAME! DUH! **

**Okay my rant is over. **

**Now it is time for the reviews!**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****-A fic that relies on suspense . . . Nice. I really couldn't do that. Maybe later, but not at my current level of skill. Good Luck.**

**Flowergirl220****-Yes, Sonia does know about it and she trust Shadow to make their lives miserable. I'll let in on a little secret. While Shadow's been taking his revenge out on his son, don't you for one minute think that Crystal and Lucas are out of the picture. They are being closely watched by Sonia. Though the two lovers don't know about it yet. You're also a little confused about the sword. I own a short sword. You saw it at the playhouse. It's the same one that I used during the Hobbit only real. I don't own a katana. Though I'd like to. Oh and don't worry about me not writing the prequels. They will come out, but don't forget about the sequels. I will go back and forward with this story so be patient.**

**XT-421****-True, my life is just almost as hectic as his is. Just hopefully I don't have the fate of the world on my shoulders or . . . we're all screwed! And you're right. Cosmo really could be the only one that could truly be there for Tails. Power to TAILSMO!**

**Bookworm****-Hey! Thanks. Really I can't wait to write any of the stories, whether it be one of the prequels or one of the two sequels. Shadow better be careful. I could have Sonic sneak up on him. Oh and thanks, its nice to have someone who isn't a member but still reviews. I like to know that I'm loved :) Sorry if I creped you out right there. **

**Koike****- I hope you get everything done. As you read up there, I and out of school for a few weeks until I have to go back . . . BOO! EVIL! I wanna see what you come up with. Oh, and just for reference, Christmas for me.**

**I thank you, one and all for the wondrous reviews. I wish to do this now in case I don't get to till next year. I want to thank you all of you who have been reading this story. I have only been on this site for five months and have already received so much positive responses. I didn't think when I started this, that I would be able to pull this whole thing off. But as I can see that was wrong. Thank you once again. Have tremendous Holiday season. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!**


	30. The Living Island

Chapter 28 The Living Island

Shadow speed across the pulsing ground as fast he could. For those of you who don't know how fast that is, think of how fast NASCAR racecars go times twenty. Normally he could go faster but the extra weight from the old Frenchmen on his back was making far more difficult. He had almost got caught multiple times. The real problem had come when he had to go through a hallway. It proved that Umbra had a cruel sense of humor. The whole hallway was covered with eyes. Silted roaming eyes. They were sliding across the walls. What would make this funny for Umbra would be the fact that two patrols were converging on the exact same spot as Shadow and the only way to escape the patrols was to go through the all seeing hallways. Nevertheless, Shadow was still able to get through the hallway without an alarm sounding. At least, that what he hoped. Umbra could have could have sent an order without a sound going off.

The Frenchmen wasn't taking the ride that well, however. He was rather quietly groaning. As in, this old geezer had a weak stomach for high speed and large bumps. Yeah, that's right. An old man was about to puke on top the Ultimate Life Forms head.

This was going to be a long night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shade hated tight places. Not that he was claustrophobic; just he hated not being able to move. Especially now, with all the people crowded in this broom closet with him. It still amazed him though that he was able to fit five people in a single broom closet. Right now he couldn't breathe. Not because of lack air in the closet, but because his air was occupied in sharing with Emily's. They were making out in a broom closet with three other people in the room aboard the EPS Enterprise. Not in the least awkward . . . to them.

"Can't you two do this when your two are _alone_?"

"I don't think they can here you."

"Like you two have room to talk. I saw you to making out in the hologram room."

"LIAR!"

"Do you want them to hear us? Those droids are not the stupid clanking bucket of bolts that Eggman uses."

"Fine"

Somehow, Shade was able to stuff himself, Emily, Lucas, Crystal, and Hurc into a five by five foot broom closet. Of course this wasn't all the stowaways. It seemed all of the younger generation was able to hide themselves on the flying warships. The older generation was adamant about not letting _any _of them anywhere near the fighting. Shade couldn't blame them, but that didn't mean he agreed with them.

The ships themselves were run almost automatic. Only one person on the entire ship was living. All the commands came from that one person who sat in the bridge on a tall chair with control panels all around him/her. Each one of the older generation was controlling one of the massive battleships that flew through the air.

None of the teens knew exactly where they were headed. All they knew that Umbra was going to be there and this was the end of the war if things went right.

They didn't know how close they really were to the action though.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jacque fired his Colt at the Black Hawk. Obviously, they had been discovered. A couple of Black Hawks had been flying over head and screeched the alarm.

While Jacque was fighting actual soldiers, Shadow was fighting the building. The base had ripped itself to life and started to send tentacles and poisons at the black hedgehog. Shadow kept on only shooting his opponents. He did not wish to reveal the Bem Blade just yet. That was a surprise for Umbra. An early Christmas present, per say.

"This is Agent Dusk," Shadow said into a small radio that was attached to an ear microphone, "I have compromised the base, but have been exposed. Begin Bombardment. Begin Operation OVERLORD!"

At those words, lasers, and bombs began to fire and detonate. In the distance, one could see a large armada of ships coming from all directions. Robotic fighters flew over head opening hell on the Black Hawks with large burst of lasers and machine gun fire. Every time one of the shots hit the biotech buildings, the monstrosity howled and writhed in pain. Huge gashes opened up from the fire and strange dark blood began to spill.

Shadow smirked at the sight. He saw a section with multiple wounds and would soon fall with a few more hits. "Chaos Fire!"

A large ball of dark fire shot out of his hand and destroyed the wounded building.

Oh YEAH! This was so much fun!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tails was actually enjoying himself for once. All that stress and anxiety had finally found a way to release itself. Even though he hated to admit it, war was fun.

"Bro, why can't I go down there and kick some with Dusk?" a whining voice came through Tails intercom.

"Because Faker, I still need to hole you in reserve until we get closer."

"I also still don't get why you let Dusk choose the code names?"

Tails laughed. "You lost the coin toss, and rock-paper-scissors, and odds or evens."

"That coin was two faced, I know it!"

Tails laughed. He focused his attention on the view screen in front of him. His face went serious at the sight before him.

The island had begun to spread its tentacles into the air taking out many of his CHAOS soldiers. He needed to hit the base of the buildings but they were blocked by thousands of tentacles rising up and killing as much as they can.

_BOOM!_

One of the buildings just seemed to collapse and the ship's sensors relayed the sound of the building let loose of a cry of pain and fury. What remained of the building was pouring out dark blood across the island and began to eaten by the other Black Arms and absorbed by other buildings.

This was going to be one long night.

"I hope you have enjoyed your fight here, my little brother."

Shadow glared at the slowly approaching reptilian figure. "Actually, yes, Lector."

Umbra smiled. "Comparing me to cannibal movie characters now? I must say that I expected better of you. You could have at least compared me to father."

Shadow sneered. "Are we going to fight or are we going to just ramble about family?"

Umbra laughed coldly. "Itching for a fight are we? I will most certainly oblige."

Umbra charged Shadow, running at a speed at could rival him. A dark wooden staff materialized in his claws and a dark red energy blade extended from the top. Shadow jumped into the air to avoid the blade. His robes flapping in the wind, Umbra smirked and leapt into the air with Shadow.

"You're holding back brother," Umbra said with a hungry smirk.

Shadow's face remained serious as he pulled his two pistols out of their holsters and began to fire a volley of bullets.

Umbra laughed manically as the bullets entered his scaled flesh. He expulsed multiple shells from his body and they all looked burnt and rusted. "Come now, pathetic Earthling weaponry is nothing to me. I am a true being of power. These Humans are nothing to me!"

They landed back onto the ground, each gazing into the other's eyes. Both filled with hate, but one with a lust for blood mixing with the hate.

"Your arrogance will be your down fall, demon," Shadow stated calmly though his insides were racked with hate.

Umbra smirked. "My pride in my own abilities has never failed me before. If you didn't notice, little brother, I knew I would thoroughly defeat you all those years ago and I did. Today will be no different."

Shadows hands began to glow a feral red and his guns took on the same glow as there were in his hands. "We just see about that," he spat. "Chaos Barrage!"

He fired the guns, but there was something about the rounds. They glowed red and were much faster than ordinary bullets.

Umbra smirked as the rounds approached him. Once again, Shadow was underestimating him. Bullets couldn't hurt him. They would just wound his body and then be expelled. The wound would heal immediately. Won't he ever learn?

The bullets soared through the air and hit the Black Arms Lord. They did wound him just as he expected. There was, however, something he did not expect.

Pain.

The reptilian monster roared in rage and pain. The multiple bullets pierced the scaled flesh and blood splattered onto the ground. The bullets drove themselves straight through Umbra digging their way right into the ground behind the manipulator. Umbra staggered for a bit, his breath was broken into long wheezy gasp. To literally add insult to injury, the wound was taking _far _longer to heal and more and more blood was pouring along to the ground. But don't think for one minute that he could die of blood loss. His blood regeneration was still at top efficacy.

Umbra looked at Shadow; his eyes were bloodshot and blazing. "You scratch my back," he disappeared for a moment and then reappeared on the battle field, his claws raised into the air above Jacque who was using his old service Colt to shoot down Black Hawks. He wasn't paying attention, however, to the giant blood-lusting creature behind. Umbra thrust his claw into the man's back. The sounds of screaming, old bones breaking, flesh tearing and one creature laughing manically could be heard over the entire island. "I'LL BREAK HIS!"

Shadow fired his pistols at Umbra once more, and once more the shape shifter roared in pain, flying away from his prey.

Shadow rushed to his comrade's side. He turned the old man over so to see his face.

While the old fisherman's body was stained with his own dark red blood, his face was pale yet a thin smile could be seen on the Frenchmen's face. Shadow looked down to see that Umbra's claws had pierced straight through Jacque's chest so that a hole was completely through him. These sights did nothing to Shadow's stomach at least to where he would barf about the gore. No. It clenched in anger.

"Why did you come here, old man? You knew you would most likely not leave these shores," Shadow said softly to the dying compatriot.

The man hacked up blood, a worried glance came over Shadow before he realized that the man was trying to laugh. "To- die –i- n my –bed – wou- ld – have been- rathe-r boring – way –to go out."

Even in this accursed situation, Shadow let out a chuckle. It seemed that he had found not only someone who could get him to the island back in France, but also a warrior. One who Shadow could hope one day to measure up to.

Shadow felt Jacques weak breath subside. The old man had died a deserving soldier. One of true honor. He had gone out with his boots on. Even though Shadow had only know the old fishermen for a few hours, he already felt another bond in him sever. Another piece of his life gone into the next. And so the world turned.

Shadow closed the eyes of the old man and turned back to face his 'brother.' Umbra stood a little father from the ruin of a dead biotech building. A cruel smirk played across his face as his staff once again made the blood red energy blade spring froth from nothingness.

"Have you enjoyed your stay on my private island?" Umbra chided, his staff twirling in his fingers.

Shadow glared at the Black Arms Lord. "Not in the slightest meaning of the word," he said coldly to Umbra.

Umbra glared but still managed to smirk. "So do have any comments on my home?"

This time it was Shadow's turn to smirk. And he did o so wickedly. "Yeah. One. Boom."

He pulled out a small remote from one of the pockets in his ripped cloak revealing a small remote with a single red button. Shadow pressed the button and instantly a huge explosion went off. Fire and stone blasted away both robotic warrior and Black Arms fell to the blast.

This night was focus point of this war.

And so the world turned.

**MUHAHAHAHA! I know! I EVIL! I'm sorry for the long time it took me to update. I am uber sorry. But I had some technical difficulties involving my **_**second **_**flash drive in one year breaking. Luckily for both you and me it worked for five more minutes before it crashed. I was able to get this and other important documents off of it.**

**Now let us move on to the review march! Dum Ba Dum!**

**Megabrain3000-Hey don't worry. I really want people to nitpick my stuff. If you do I can go do to the minutest detail and see what stupid thing I've done now. I hoped that Google translator wouldn't do that but I secretly thought it would. Languages are an art. They don't follow strict rules of programming. I will add the other characters back in. So don't worry about them. They will defiantly be in the epilogue. And if you really like stories on this site you could join and have a place where you could link to all your favorite stories. **

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper- So you're going to keep us all in suspense, nice.**

**XT-421- I'm sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with it though. I got up to the part where Violet is under the mind control of that jerk. I plan on getting back on them as soon as possible. You just witnessed the first part of the price of war. **

**Fiendslayer-Hey! That's not nice!**

**flowergirl220- Don't worry about it. And that's true, it wouldn't fun if Umbra just laid down and let the story just stop. The Anthro is Shadow. He's the one who hired Jacque. Jacque from France and is a fishermen. Ergo? I don't know French. I got that out of Google Translator because I was kind of in a hurry to get the chapter up so I didn't want to get a French-English dictionary. It would have been such a drag to get it out. We do own one however.**


	31. Chaos Midnight

Chapter 30 Chaos Midnight

To someone watching this spectacle, it would look like black and red blurs were moving through the air above the corrupted ground of the island. Bullets that glanced off Umbra's body landed in the unfortunate bodies of Black Arms and the blasted shells of Prower Command droids.

Shadow landed on the ground and leapt back into the air. He loaded another clip into one of his pistols. He fired at Eclipse, the rounds whistling through the air.

The bullets entered Umbra's flesh; he cringed slightly, but he had become used to this now. Though the pain was still there, he could ignore it. He pressed his staff forward. He snarled at his little brother as he made the dark red blade at the top of the staff grow darker and more ominous. "I am becoming weary of this, little child. I hope you don't mind if I cheat!"

Umbra thrust his staff into the ground and closed his eyes. "_Praxis Oni Umbra!_"

Shadow could feel a dark presence radiating around Umbra, and could visibly see a change in the Black Arms Lord. His skin went from dark brown to midnight black and he grew larger and visibly stronger. His robe was torn to shreds as he grew larger. His fangs became like unto daggers, and his eyes were bloodshot. The muscles bulged through his accursed dark skin. His claws became like poisoned spears. A wicked snarl appeared on his mouth. He spoke and his voice became that of an evil dragon in a fantasy movie. Only this was no movie. "Do you find my true form impressive?" Umbra cackled into the sky. All around him, Shadow could feel the air drop by at least thirty degrees.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tails looked at his readings. This . . . This was horrifically frightening. He had been looking at the same readings for at least an hour. He had to; otherwise, he would send his droids into the unknown. But suddenly an energy spike had emerged in the center of the island. He had first dismissed it for a blast of one of his allies' cannons. But this was different.

A normal cannon blast would do some damage. A flash in the temperature gauge maybe. But instead, his droids' cameras were showing no sign of artillery mutilation. And the droids sensors were actually showing a drop in temperature. How was this possib—no, he didn't even finish that question. He knew that in this screwed up world, _anything _was possible.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow dodged the blast of fire directed at his head. He had been this close to becoming Umbra's next filleted meal, Fillet la Hedgehog, before. He would be hard pressed to take Umbra now. He may have gotten out of the way, but he had dropped his pistol and lost it in the fire.

"Come on, you _damn_ bastard!" Umbra yelled as he licked his lips. "I know you can do better than all this! I WANT A REAL OPPONENT!"

Umbra brought his hand up. "_ENJOY_!" Lightning coursed along arm and his teeth began to cut into his gums so hard they began to bleed, making his appearance more demonic than it already was. He threw the electricity.

Shadow smirked. He easily dodged the bolt and began to focus his energy. He had never tried this before. If this failed, he would not only look like a supreme dolt; he would most likely die because Umbra would not let him live.

Shadow smirked at his dark brother. "You're liking this to much. I say well spread you blood lust around. CHAOS LEGION."

Suddenly, thousands of Shadows appeared behind the original. Each one looked exactly like Shadow but they were just illusions. Shadow knew this. But he didn't know something.

Umbra knew they were fake too.

The monster cackled maliciously. "AH! ISN'T THIS BLOODY LOVELY! BUT YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN MULTIPLY! DO WATCH!" Umbra brought his claw above his above his head.

Before anything or anyone could stop him, Umbra brought his claw down and sliced though his entire body. Shadow could feel that protein bar he had on the boat creeping its way back up his throat. What was on the inside of Umbra was something out of the mind of a insane doctor who had a fetish for eyes and tentacles. Blood and eyes wandered through the body blinking and staring at each other as though this was a normal occurrence. Tentacles wrapped around each other and pocked there way through what looked like kidneys, lungs, and hearts. You don't want much more of a description.

Slowly the two parts of Umbra stood side-by-side and they smirked so it was _extremely_ unnerving. Umbra's two parts sides and began to speak together. Creepy.

"You see brother, no matter how hard anyone tries. I am _always_ there. Even I cannot kill myself. Or rather I can CLONE!"

The two parts did not rejoin. But they began to regenerate their lost half. Two Umbras formed beside each other. "You ready for an encore," they said together. The process repeated until there were at least twelve Umbras.

Shadow was really glad he was a war veteran. He had seen gross things before but this defiantly took the case. If he hadn't seen mangled things before, he would have defiantly left every meal he had on the island.

The Umbras stretched their arms out; a red aura began show around them. A small flash showed them and in their hands were their black wooden staves.

Each one smirked and spoke in the language of the Black Arms. "_Praxis Oni Dominus Baenre Yana Malar Almil SADRAX!_" With each word a large orb appeared in the sky glowing a very ominous black. Shadow could feel the air heat up and pressure began to build on his chest like a vice grip.

"Now witness foolish little brother, you will now see why I am perfection personified. I AM POWER AND THAT IS PERFECT! KETSU!"

Each orb exploded with such force that Shadow was sure that the shrapnel would reach the fleet. Shadow closed his eyes and brought his arms in self defense.

They weren't that useful.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shade and Emily were knocked out of their tenth make out session by a tremor. If they were on land, this wouldn't be problem. Fact was they were in the air. If the ship rocked, that meant something hit it. That's never a good a sign.

"Who turned on the tumbler?" groaned Lucas as he picked himself out of some buckets. He looked over to his companions only to find them in the outer hallway. _Crap_.

He helped Crystal back on to her feet. Hurc held his head like he had a hangover but other that he had no outer damage. Emily and Shade were fine except for the fact that they were unconscious. They had skidded out of the closet and hit the titanium wall in the hallway.

_Just great. If dad's soldiers find them they'll alert him. All I need is to be grounded from now till eternity._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pain

That's what Shadow felt at this moment. He opened his eyes to only see a grey darkness. He forgot about that grey blackness because of an insufferable feeling in his left leg. He didn't look. He didn't want look. Rather find out when this was all over.

He brought his hands up. There wasn't that much room. He could still bring some room to push. He stretched his arms and moved the grey surface.

It budged out of his way, but with every strain of his body, it ached. Not the most fun thing in the world.

"This is why I never go spelunking," he groaned as he pulled himself out..

He heard at least twelve gasp of surprise. He didn't need the producers to know who was (were) the owner. "You just don't know when to quit, do you? This just goes to show that life if wasted on the living."

Shadow groaned in response. Umbra smirked, "You can't beat me! I am the master of this world now. Your will soon be a forgotten memory and this will be the crown jewel of this Empire. Such diversity and secrets still are yet to be found on this world and all that is useful will be assimilated. Fear ME! I am the MASTER and you _WILL_ OBEY ME! You petty little strengths like love, generosity, mercy, brotherhood . . . BAH! They are nothing but lies! They existed on every planet I took. Look at them now! MINE! The strong became the soldiers you mercilessly slaughter now. The weak became food for my armies. NOTHING CAN DEFY ME FOR TOO LONG! IF YOU HAD A GOD OR GODS BEFORE NOW, THEY HAVE ABANDONED YOU! NOTHING SHALL SURVIVE THE BLACK FLAME OF ILDRAMA! THE FIRE OF PERFECTION! UMBRA ECLIP –"

Shadow looked up to see that one of the Umbra clones had been completely obliterated. The others looked at the blobs splattered across the ground where their comrade had been a moment before. Shadow looked up and smirked. "And from the heavens descended a red headed genius whose mind had shown brilliance almost unparalleled."

From up in the air came a hearty laugh. "HO HO! Shadow, I'm surprised you got a sense of humor after all these years. You have certainty changed since I freed you from that G.U.N. capsule. Now you are a true force to reckoned with. Now let's kick his ass!"

The Umbras turned around in time to see Dr. Eggman, much older and with a lot of grey lining with his formerly flashy red hair, in his famous hovercraft surrounded by _huge _robots with, once again, _huge_ cannons, one of which was smoking rather profusely.

"Droids!" the Doctor yelled at the top of his wheezy voice. "Open fire!"

Upon their creators command, the droids fired upon the Umbra clones.

Light from the cannons blinded all those around. Shadow could even feel the heat radiation from the shots. Probably, it would have fried him, had not a pair of hands swiftly grabbed him and pulled him away.

Shadow opened his eyes to see the last person he wanted to save him. "Faker, you just had to get in on the action, didn't you?"

Sonic responded with a grin. "Couldn't let you hog the freaks all to yourself!"

Shadow smirked just a little. "Didn't think the Doctor would have agreed to this assault. I expected him to outright refuse this whole thing."

Sonic laughed. "He still remembers how badly Doom beat him. He thinks of this whole thing as a bit of revenge. This has got to be the first time that some of that revenge hasn't been directed at me."

Shadow just chuckled lightly. "He just doesn't know when to quit."

Eggman floated above the battle that raged below him, laughing his old head off. The Umbra clones were reduced to a mere five, but they began to gain the upper hand as they coordinated themselves flawlessly. One jumped into the air and the other four sped forward, their demonic bodies reddening with energy. "ENJOY THE ABYSS, YOU CRACKPOT!" they screamed together. They stopped and stood at their full height, which was at least eight feet tall. They began to make hand seals and were muttering in multiple different languages, at least that was what Shadow thought. He had a basic grasp of Black Arm speech. All of this harkened back death, hell, and . . . !

"DOCTOR! GET OUT OF THERE!"

Eggman didn't listen. He just began to charge his droids again. He didn't pay any heed to the demonic symbols that began to swirl around the five Umbras. The symbols lifted up into the air between the four Umbras on the ground and the one in the air and began to line up in the form of an eye. "_DOMINUS CLORIL MASALA SALVATORE DOOM!"_

The symbols began to glow dark red and in the middle of the eye, the slitted pupil glowed purple. The Umbra in the air began to shout. "AND SO THE BLACK FIRES OF ILDRAMA SHALL CONSUME! CONSUME EVERYTHING! DOOM'S EYE!"

The energy became a colossal blast of purple energy. It charged straight for the Doctor and his droids. If someone had been able to hear over Umbra's shouts, they would have heard a man shout, "FIRE!"

But that shout was short lived. The blast died down. Shadow searched the blast radius, looking for . . . _anything_! But there was nothing. Not a bolt, not a screw, not anything; but a single red and silver hair that had somehow escaped oblivion.

A great catch of breath could be heard above him. Shadow looked up to see Umbra, ONE Umbra, floating down from the air. "That has got to be the most time and energy I have _ever_ spent on a primitive life form. Such a troublesome doctor. But soon I will be able to rest."

Shadow glared at the final Umbra, as it seemed to be the only one left, since Umbra had to use the others' Chaos energy to make that attack. "I must admit though," he continued, "if I had kept my replication up for much longer, I could have exhausted myself. Your planet is truly remarkable. Even races _far_ more advanced than you have never lasted _two_ invasions of the Black Arms. You should feel proud that you have endured for so long, but now it is time to die!" He stretched forth his arm and once again the blackened staff materialized into its master's hand.

Shadow, without looking back, spoke to his blue doppelganger. "Sonic, I want you to go to back to the fleet. I've got a plan."

Sonic opened his mouth to protest, but Shadow cut him off. "No arguments! We don't have time. You get back there and make sure that you're still firing on those buildings. I'll handle the rest."

Sonic didn't like it but he nodded anyway. He ran away, but in the deepest part of his stomach he could feel something, and it didn't feel right.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Ouch!_

_My head . . . I feel like someone slammed my against a brick wall._

He opened his eyes slowly. Then he closed them again. _Why? Why is it that every time I'm out I find myself in this stupid hospital? _

He opened his eyes again and gained a bit more perception. He could see that he was the only living thing in the room. But that didn't mean he was alone. Two GERALD class droids stood in front of him, their guns at their sides.

_I am so gonna get it!_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Umbra and Shadow circled each other like brazen vultures waiting for a center kill. Their eyes never left the other's. Crimson orbs of serious hate and bloodshot madness met in the middle, but their bodies still remained circling. Umbra licked his cracked blood hungry lips. Shadow's expression remained unchanged. He knew he had to end this soon. He was already feeling the strain of his injured leg. He still didn't want to know what had happened to it. But he still knew he shouldn't put too much strain on it. Obviously.

Umbra stopped. He sighed, mocking disappointment. "I know you're ready, so let's get this over with. We're both extremely busy. We have places to be and things to destroy. So let's end this little session of ring-around-the-rosie."

Shadow smirked slightly. "Good. I'm glad we can agree on something. Let's BEGIN! CHAOS MIDNIGHT!"

Shadow glowed black. Blacker than the darkest night. But the glow didn't stop. It began to spread all around him. Incasing him in shadow and spreading like a dark wildfire until an outsider would have only seen a giant dome with little bits of dead land sticking out of the water.

Umbra looked around in utter surprise. This was one technique he had not yet encountered. This was new. And whatever was new on the field of battle was dangerous.

He smirked to cover his surprise. "This is impressive, brother, but don't you think I can see through the darkness. I have been on planets that have been as dark as this and been able to do a perfect dance. I believe this is nothing but an attempt to cover your cowardness."

A malicious laugh reverberated from the darkness. It was cold and carried venom that Umbra would feel proud of. "You can try and see, but you won't. I designed this technique just for you. You should feel honored. Second favored son of Doom!"

Umbra's bloodshot eyes became enraged. _How dare He!_

"SECOND FAVOURED! BAH! I AM THE FIRST BORN! THE FIRST BLACK ARMS SPAWNED! I AM THE GREATEST WEAPON THAT DOOM HAS EVER HAD!"

Another laugh can from the darkness. "I don't believe that can be true. If _you_ are the greatest, then why did he need to have the Professor create _me_? If you are as great as you say, then he would have no need of me."

Umbra's blood began to literally boil.. _No one! NO ONE IN THE UNIVERSE HAS THE RIGHT TO EVER TALK TO ME THAT WAY!_ "YOU WERE A WEAPON DESIGNED FOR ME TO USE AS JUST A POWERHITTER!" he screamed, though not truly believing his own words.

Shadow laughed again. Umbra could not take it anymore. He began to fire off in random directions to end the laughter. That horrid laughter. He stretched out his staff and out came the blade. He began to swing it around, and with every swing a ring of red energy branched off and flew off.

And with every swing, Umbra became more and more livid. You could now longer tell if his eyes were bloodshot or if they were naturally red around the iris. He was _furious_—no, beyond furious. There was no adjective that could describe the rage he felt. _NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO MAKE HIM MAD, NO ONE!_

"Is this all the Black Flame of Ildrama can manage? A few pot-shots in the dark? HA!"

Umbra completely lost it then. He had had some control before now, even if it was small. But he had no more now. "SHOT IN THE DARK? I'LL SHOW YOU A SHOT IN THE DARK! _DOMINUS CLORIL MASALA DELACA PANDEMONIUM!"_ Umbra's body glowed a blackish-red. His eyes glazed over and then became as black as the night that surrounded him. He opened his mouth wide and dark energy began to gather in his mouth. Shadow could feel the energy from the attack actually start to sap energy from his dome of darkness. Then Umbra spoke again, but this time in a voice that was on its own. His mouth never moved from drawing the energy. It was a voice that Shadow remembered all too well. _The day of reckoning is here!_

**WHOO! That has got to be the hardest chapter I have ever written! Fight scenes courtesy of**_** Drizzt Do' Urden**_** by R.A. Salvatore (who is really good at them). It is not easy.**

**But I do have good news and bad news to go along with this chapter. The good news is that I will be writing the prequels. YAY! AND I had my birthday on February 1****st**** so I am now 16! YEAH YEAH! The bad news is after this I am going to take a small break from this and begin to work on my second book while my editor works on book 1. If I do get published, look for **_**The Legends of Avalon: the Shining Inferno**_**. That will be book 1 of 12. After a shot interval, I will work on Empire. Unlike its processor, Empire will be extremely short. Not a one-shot mind you but maybe ten chapters. Maybe less, maybe more. Just depends. There will be a bit of crossover, but it will be integrated into the story so don't worry. **

**Megabrain3000****-I originally thought about making it **_**I'll scratch his**_**, but I thought it would sound better seeing as Umbra is always making fun of Earth culture so he was moving it the saying around but thanks none the less. That's why I put him in. I thought it would good to show that this is a war after all and people die.**

**Master Metallix-****Thanks. Really. I do hope you enjoy the rest of the story. I do plan on continuing the series. And don't be afraid to critique it, I don't care if you do a Simon Cowell and are extremely blunt. As long you don't say I stink worse than Limburger cheese, I will be alright.**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****- cool I hope to see it all later.**

**Koike-If you like fight scenes then I hope you like this one. It has been **_**hard**_**. I plan to look up your chapter. If fact, I will right after I update.**

**Flowergirl220****- I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter but don't worry about the titles and powers list. I can easily send you the list with pictures of people as well. I tried to cut back on the mistakes this time and had Fiendslayer go over most of it to make sure I got some things right.**

**Fiendslayer****- How many times do I have to tell you not to threaten the readers. They nice people. Well most of them. I will have to keep a closer eye on you from now on. **

**Blaze the Vampire****- Ok? I don't even know how to really respond to this.**

**Cman-Thanks, I like it when nonmembers review. Hey don't worry about Charmy and Cream. I only put them together because there really wasn't anyone else to put them with. And the curse words are there because this is a war fic. I could have put this up to M and really let loose with the language and gore. Also it's because there are children present in the story.**


	32. Welcome to Hell

Chapter 31 Welcome to Hell

Mrs. Sonia the Hedgehog equals not happy. She had heard from Tails that her children had been found on the Enterprise and the droids had already begun to search the other ships for stowaways. So far Lucas, Sonia, Hurc and Emily had been found on the Enterprise, Storm, Alana and Whirl had been found on the EPS Valiant. The other parents had already scolded their children via video COM. But Sonia hadn't been a single parent for thirteen years for nothing. She knew that her kids would never listen to any parent on some stupid video COM. She knew how to make her children squirm. Of course, Shadow . . . They would be utterly terrified if she would call him to '_interrogate_' them like he had after the horrid St. Petersburg incident. But he wasn't here right now, so she would serve.

The memories brought a familiar pang to her heart. She was worried for him. Extremely worried. She had fought Umbra and he had almost killed her without breaking a sweat. They had never faced such an indomitable foe before.

As she walked through the halls for a 'Scolding Session', she uttered an almost inaudible prayer for her husband. And just incase, for the rest of the world, that they might find their way through the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow ran faster than had ever run before. His injured left leg had just barely been disintegrated. Umbra had launched a huge blast, even larger than the blast used on the Doctor. It could have easily take out that Church in Russia where they had made the trade.

The blast lasted at least for five minutes. It was as though he was trying to make sure he had gotten rid of that 'troublesome hedgehog.'

Even though he didn't want to, Shadow did see what had happened to his left leg. All this time, even when he was running with it, he didn't know what bad shape he was in. Turns out, a good portion of the skin had been ripped off and the wound had penetrated to the bone. Blood flowed out of it and spread all over the dark corrupted ground. His jet boots were crimson.

If he had been a lesser man—hedgehog—he would have either screamed in pain or let his breakfast go. As he was Shadow, he did neither, though on the inside there was this 'little' voice that was howling and screeching.

The dark light vanished from view and Shadow could see his adversary again through the dust, rubble and smoke in the air. Umbra had used all of the energy to hold his stronger form and once again reverted back to his 'normal' structure. He was panting heavily. Though Shadow could tell Umbra couldn't see him, he had a _very _satisfied smirk plastered on his scaly mug.

Shadow looked behind him to see if his plan had worked. He couldn't see, but he could hear rumbling. _That could be a good sign._ He thought. He stood still for a few more minutes. He needed to let Umbra think he had been obliterated in the blast. Making that alien son of a ^%!&#$* build his hopes and then crash them would be _SWEETLY_ cruel.

Then laughter. Shadow smirked. Umbra was laughing, very much so. That meant that he thought he had won. "YES!" Shadow heard him yell at the top of his lungs in triumph. "I WIN! I AM THE TRUE ULTIMATE LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE! EVEN WITH YOUR SO CALLED IMMORTALITY, I WON!"

Shadow knew this was perfect. This was the point he where Umbra's joy would crash down like the thing behind him would soon enough.

"Hey, Umbra!" Shadow yelled, his voice full of very-'unShadow'-cockiness, as he emerged out of the rubble. "Never turn you back on an opponent!"

He had never seen a face fall so far and so fast. Umbra's ecstasy fell like water at the top of a waterfall. The Black Arms Lord was in a temporary state of shock. NO ONE had ever survived that attack. It was his most devastating technique. He had destroyed an entire flag ship with it, and yet still this . . . _thing_ remained alive! The GAUL!

"H-How?" he stammered. Shadow smirked. This was truly one of the most wonderful sights he had ever seen. With all his scheming, all his planning, and all his hate, Umbra could still not beat Shadow. All his plans would be completely laid to waste.

"You will never understand, brother," Shadow stated his mouth curling into a sinister smile. "No matter how hard you try, no matter how many armies you send against us, we _will_ prevail. You think you can manipulate us and use our love for our fellows to destroy us from within. Those ties have made us stronger than you could ever imagine. You've lost!"

"NO!" Umbra screamed at the top of his lungs. "I CAN'T LOSE! I AM PERFECT!"

Shadow chuckled. "If you're so perfect, why don't you take a long look at your masterpiece." It was more of a command than a question.

Umbra turned his head toward the slowly dissipating cloud of smoke and rubble. When it cleared, Umbra's black heart stopped.

The Ellipse Ray, in all its might to summon the entire Black Arms fleet from every stretch of the universe, something only Black Doom could do . . . was gone! Umbra's masterpiece was now nothing more than a chard husk. It was almost unrecognizable. Only a few Black Arms symbols remained to tell the story.

Umbra couldn't handle it. He looked at Shadow and their eyes locked. Shadow was slightly surprised of what he saw in Umbra's eyes. They the bloodshot features now looked permanent. But now his red irises were gone. Replacing them were light green eyes with so much hate as Shadow had ever seen.

"_**I'LL KILL YOU!**_" Umbra roared. He charged forward on all fours like a mad animal. Forgoing his staff and Chaos abilities, Umbra clawed his way toward Shadow.

He couldn't run. He tried to but now that he has seen it and wasn't ignoring it, he couldn't bear the pain. He stumbled over, just trying to escape the enraged alien. For a moment he thought he felt his life past before his eyes. He saw the professor and Maria smiling at him and looking down upon the Earth which he longed to live on. He the G.U.N. soldiers raiding the ARK and killing everyone inside. He saw the Doctor releasing him from that horrid time capsule. He felt the pain of falling through the atmosphere. He saw Metal Madness soaring through skies fighting with Sonic. He felt the conflict in his head of the first Black Arms invasion. He saw the many times he tried to impress Sonia for her love and didn't know he already had it. He saw that fateful night in the Android factory fighting Umbra. He felt the whips all over again from thirteen years of poison. He saw the joy and tears of his children of finally meeting his children. He saw his trusted friend turn into the fiend that held in him nightmarish bondage for so many years. He saw his own son enraptured by Umbra's cruel mind control. He felt the joy of his children finding happiness even in times of war. He saw the Frenchmen die in his arms. And most of all he saw those horrid red and green eyes.

Shadow braced himself for the oncoming pain. He knew that Umbra would want revenge. And in the way he was now, Shadow couldn't deny him.

But no pain came.

Shadow opened his eyes to see a thick cloud of black and red dust flying through the air at incredible speed toward him. It past through him, and when it did so he felt like his entire body had been dumped into a huge bucket of ice cold water. He shivered but turned around to watch the cloud turned upward into the dark sky with an ungodly scream that could make a master torturer's hair stand o end. But as soon the cloud left, the remaining tentacles on the buildings began to wither and die. Many of the Black Arms who were moving around returning fire upon ships and droids began to die as well.

Shadow limped forward, looking up into the darkened sky. He knew this would be it. He had hoped he could have killed Umbra here but one more struggle still remained. One upon the very vessel that Shadow swore he would never set foot upon . . .

The Black Comet.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A small gunship picked Shadow up off the island. Out of a window he could see G.U.N. soldiers boarding the Doctors fleet to take command now that he had left this world.

A medical droids mend up his leg as best it could. Of course that did entail a good of cybernetics being implanted to his left leg. Not that he minded. As long as he could beat Umbra he would be content not to run with the wind again. Faker would probably make a big deal about it but he would just make sure that Sonic never knew. He found some good cargo pants and a black trench coat. He found some rounds for his pistols and a comlink. He would need it if he took a team aboard the floating hell. Now what he had to do was get some real soldiers and go.

He just hoped this would be the last time.

The ship pulled into a docking bay aboard the _Enterprise_. Immediately a crowd gathered around him, screaming and cheering his name. He could see his wife, Sonia, with tears of joy running down her beautiful face. Sonic stood in the back smirking like a maniac. Manic and Tails were giving him salutes along with their wives. The members of the Chaotix Detective Co. were chanting his name (at least Vector and Charmy were, Espio was just trying to look like he didn't know them). Knuckles and Rouge were holding a big banner saying "Shadow for President!" He had no idea why it said that, or where they got it but he felt somewhat touched all the same.

"You guys really know how to give a guy a welcome home." Shadow said smiling slightly. In the back he could see a smaller and shorter group smiling very sheepishly at him. He immediately recognized each and every face. And he felt his parental instincts kick in at full blast.

"SHADE! CRYSTAL! YOU TWO ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shade snuck through the corridors of the E.P.S. _Valiant._ They had been moved to the _Valiant_ when Shadow found them; he had been extremely mad. He had demanded them to go to their rooms but only before he realized they were flying through the air at fifty miles an hour headed back to the U.S. Then he had decided that they would be placed under house arrest until he could deal with them back home.

_Home . . ._ He thought. _ I can't wait._ Though Shade feared his father's wrath, he was looking forward to go home. Even if it meant he was probably be grounded until he was old enough to marry. Still, he needed to do this. He knew Umbra was still out there, and he was going to help his dad weather he liked it or not.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow stormed the halls of the _Valiant_. This ship held all of the craft that could reach the Comet undetected. He needed something to allow him and at least four others to get into space.

As he searched for the perfect ship with the right flight and stealth capabilities, he felt a finger tap him on the shoulder. He turned around to a raven haired woman in a black skin-tight flight suit with an unstrapped breather mask, a smirk that didn't make it all the way up to her steel cold eyes, a pair of M-16s strapped across her back, and four stars on her color. There stood Cm. Sharon Loveless.

Shadow rolled his eyes at her appearance. "And you want?

Her smirk vanished. She walked over to a grey ship with the marker, ORION on the side with an angled front, curved sides, the engines were on the back, and there sides were completely smooth so you could reach through the stratosphere quickly. She placed her hand on the left side of the ship, and with a computerized beep a door slid open to reveal the inside of the shuttle.

"It's not what I want," she said sternly, with her smirk returning, "it's what's going to happen. I'm going with you."

"No."

Her eyes narrowed _very _dangerously. "Listen to me, _soldier_, I am still the Commander of G.U.N. It doesn't matter that you a member of this Protectorate. I still outrank you and if anyone deserves a few shots at that bastard, Eclipse, it's me!" Her fist was griping a railing inside of the shuttle so much so that if she had strength like Sonia it would have been crushed to atoms. He could see a temple in her forehead throbbing hazardously. He knew she was right, but he knew that she would be no match for Umbra in almost any form he took.

Shadow sighed. He didn't like this, but he knew that he would be able to stop the inevitable. And she really did deserve this chance. "Fine you can come, but you will follow what I say. You have never been aboard a Black Comet; I have, for far too long I might add. I can tell you that you will that need gas mask."

Her left eyebrow arched, "Why?"

"The entire comet is felled with a liquid that admits this sort of steam that can be very nauseating after a certain period of time. I don't need one for at least a week because of my Black Arms blood. You will need one period. If I give you an order you will follow it out because I am the one knowledgeable about the enemy and terrain we will be facing. Do you understand?" She nodded and they began to load weaponry and help the droids that Tails sent add the special stealth equipment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shade really wondered who designed vent systems. I mean, they are always just big enough for you to crawl through but always tight enough for a person to develop claustrophobia. Going through the air duct system had not been in the original plan. He had come down the hall to the bridge and he had heard Aunt Sally coming his way. He quickly ripped off the vent and hurried through. Now he would just have to find the hanger so he could get a ship and help dad once he got to the Comet.

He had wanted to grab Emily out of her 'cell.' They really weren't cells more of little motel rooms with a very sophisticated lock system. Luckily for Shade, Uncle Manic had taught him how to pick locks both material and electronic. Emily had been sitting there reading the book he had loaned to her before the battle. He really wanted to burst forth from his perch in the vent and just bring her with him, but he was agonizing the Grim Reaper as it was trying to sneak up to the Black Comet and fight Umbra.

True, he wasn't that strong, and he was nowhere near Umbra's or dad's level, but he had been training a lot. He had been able to prepare for this since he been released from the hospital wing. Only Knuckles could supervise the training because Shadow had been too busy. He was really looking forward to when this whole war was over. Then things good would be wonderful.

He continued down the vent, absorbed in his day—(though not really sure what time it was)—dreaming. He didn't notice the end of the vent shaft so he just on crawling. He did notice it, however, when his head slammed through vent, smashing the screws out of place. He looked down between the time of his falling and the time of his landing (4.5 seconds) and saw the open top cargo hatch of a voyager shuttle where droids were piling supplies into it. He didn't have time to ponder why as his head meet metal and he knew no more.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow placed the gas mask on his team. Sharon Loveless was the first to volunteer for the most common reason in the group: revenge. Knuckles and Manic had signed up to protect their wives and children (well, that was 87% of the reason for Manic, the other 13% was taken up by fear of his very hormonal wife who was having her period this week and would have killed him). A whole team of Delta Force soldiers were standing with Loveless as her personal 'coterie' and marksmen. Each on of them had had friends, family and comrades die at the hands of Tails was sending also a trio of GERALD class soldiers. He would have sent more but the ship won't be able to run at full capacity with more passengers.

Each one of the soldiers had been equipped with laser resistant armor and night vision goggles, at least ones who need it. He was even wearing the gas mask as a precaution. The shuttle was stuffed with water, ration bars (whose taste resembled that of cardboard), and of course the most important necessity: ammo. He had four of his S-32s with laser sights for pinpoint accuracy, across his back were two weapons: a RPG launcher to take out the big enemies without using his Chaos energy, and the Bem Blade was fastened firmly in its sheath ready to deal one blow against the Black Arms Lord.

He swiped his hand across the control panel for the cargo room, never taking a look inside or even missing a step. He just moved on. If he had stayed at least another minute to check he would have heard a groan and the exclamation, "Where the hell am I?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sonia and Crystal watched in worry as the ORION shuttle launched itself into space carrying Earth's hope to end this nightmare. This one year long struggle could finally be over. They just hoped that Shadow wouldn't do anything reckless.

Lucas came up behind his girlfriend and gave a reassuring squeeze on her hand. She smiled ever so slightly to him but then her eyes suddenly just shot open in terror.

Her mother looked over to her in fear for an answer but asked, "What's wrong?"

Crystal grabbed her chest as though she was having a heart attack. "Shade . . ." she breathed. "Something has happened to Shade . . .!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ORION soared silently through the deep vacuum of space. As silent as it was outside, the inside was almost as quite. A few quiet mutterings and the steady rhythm of a black hedgehog tapping on the dash board were the only things that the ears of soldiers heard.

The tapping, Shadow himself didn't notice. If you asked him why he did it, he would say if didn't know what you were talking about and he didn't. It was an unconscious action that he had developed those thirteen years. It was the same beat of the drums. The Black Arms used drums to keep their building slaves workers in beat so to work on a schedule. It was brutally efficient. He heard the same four beats every day, every night, always those drums. Getting closer. Fading away. But always there. Tormenting him. Sonia had noticed him doing it a couple of times but said nothing. She knew it was just normal healing after all those years of horror. He could hear them. They were faint. He had grown so use to them. They would even invade his dreams. When he dreamed of home, the drums would be there. Never interfering with the interaction of the people in the dreams, but always there as a reminder.

As the tapping continued, Sharon Loveless looked out into the dark abyss of space. Her thoughts were not as psychiatric as Shadow's. She was daydreaming. She wanted to feel his skin brushing against hers. Taste his lips. Hear his charm. See his smile. Watch his grace. Stare into those dark chocolate orbs again. Feel her way through his thick brown locks.

But she knew that this was a dangerous fantasy. More like, these were dangerous memories. She hated herself for longing for those things again. True, when she had been with him, she had never felt more alive. But she had just been a pawn in a giant game of chess. She deserved this chance. Once she saw that _thing _she would show why she had gotten her rank.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ORION sailed beside the juggernaut that was the Umbra's flagship. The Black Comet was just as large as Doom's. The red and black of its living outer shell just sickened Shadow. Those horrible memories surfaced themselves in his mind. And with them, came the drums. They pounded inside his skull as he gazed upon the charnel house that had housed his torment for all those vile years.

He already saw from afar Black Hawks were flying around the Comet, but he could that they were changing out. There was, if memory served, there was a flap that opened out for the patrols to enter in and out. All he needed to do was slip through that flap and he would be able to lead his team through the hell that floated through space.

But if he had looked closer, he would have noticed that these weren't Black Hawks. They were to big. They were too large. Now '_the fun can begin.'_

As Shadow drove the ORION, one of those 'Black Hawks' charged at him. It rammed its head into the shuttle knocking the ship off course. It flew into the frictionless space; another stopped it and looked at the crew right in the face.

The creature was bat like but it seemed to have human like features but they were mutated and had scales and their mouths were covered with this thin, thin clear bag that rippled with each breath. Its eyes were green and the whites of the eyes were blood red and they reminded Shadow horridly of their mission. Shadow and the creature locked eyes. Crimson locked with deathly green.

The black hedgehog then began to smirk, "Enjoy, this will be quite shocking!" he slammed his palm down on a defense mechanism on the control panel. The creature writhed in electrified pain. If it were possible, the crew would have heard the monster scream in horrid agony. It released the ORION from its grasp and flew off to join its fellows.

"I HATE YOU!"

Shadow smirked at turned around to see a _rather_ ticked woman sitting right behind him and if looks could kill, he would have been burned to a crisp. He chuckled a bit at her face. This was the first time he had ever seen her unhinged at it looked _really_ funny.

The soldiers sitting behind her were having a hard time not busting out laughing. Knuckles was not so tactful (or should I say caution?). He was laughing heartily, slapping his knee as he went. However, a frozen glare from the woman up at the front made him immediately freeze with fear. He had years of experience to know that was the appropriate action. Manic just decided to scan the perimeter to make sure no more of those things came around. Though, he was grinning.

Shadow chuckled again but then once again turned serious. "Those were Nephilim, Umbra's personal guard. If he sent those out to guard the Comet, that means he seriously wants us dead."

Loveless scoffed, "He's wanted us dead since this whole thing started, and the feeling is mutual."

He shook his head. "If had wanted us dead then, he would have done it himself. He was hidden in plain sight. He could have slipped a dagger between each of our ribs and then destroyed the rest of the world. Now he longer has any use for any of us. Now, were expandable."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shade groaned as the ship rocked back and forth. His stomach had already let loose its content onto the floor. Now he had the problem of staying conscious. He saw the light flicker a bit after all the banging that went on outside the front. He also heard a woman's voice yell angrily at the top of her lungs. He wondered who the receiver of the yell was. Though it most likely would be Uncle Sonic, of course that's if he was here.

Then he heard a few mutters of conversation between the people up front. Something about personal guards, the Comet and 'the feeling is mutual.' Then he was able to put his ear just right and hear one more sentence before thins went silent. If had wanted us dead then, he would have done it himself. He was hidden in plain sight. He could have slipped a dagger between each of our ribs and then destroyed the rest of the world. Now he longer has any use for any of us. Now, were expandable."

His eyes widened considerably. Did that mean what he thought and dreaded? Umbra was out for blood and when he wanted something like that, he got it. All Shade could do was try to find some saliva in his throat and gulp in fear.

He looked at the door in utter terror. The boy slowly and quietly backed away from it. The next time that that door opened would either be his dad or a certain black scaled alien with a blackened staff. Maybe this hadn't been the best of ideas.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Very little more trouble came from the Nephilim. A few of them stared at the shuttle but they let in into the hanger. Course, that shot the rest of the plan to hell. The Nephilim were Black Arms like any other and like all the others, they had the mind-link. All the others would know that there was a ship with soldiers about to come into the Black Comet and attack their Lord.

Could things get worse?

Yes.

That's what was happening now. Shadow had the shuttle floating above the 'ground' per say, and he needed to grab a few extra cantinas from the storage room. He pressed a few, buttons rather lazily but on edge nonetheless. He knew this whole thing was dangerous. Maybe he should check and see if there was a Dr. Pepper in back. He could use the caffeine.

The door slide open; he walked into the storage room without a wood. He need to make this quick. He put his hand on a wall panel to reveal a refrigerator. A few drinks were stocked up in there. Unfortunately, only diet Dr. Pepper. He would have to dismantle the droid that packed the fridge.

With a sigh he popped the top of the canned drink. He started to glug the fizzing beverage. He slowly turned with the drink still sliding down his throat when something caught his eye.

Black and red _fur?_

He stepped closer to see the rest of the fur. The fur was attached to a body that was sleeping and looked _very _familiar. The body had a face attached to it and that was _too_ familiar.

O, he guessed grounding was too lenient a punishment. Maybe never, ever, seeing the light of day again would be better. That and making him watch that infernal purple dinosaur over and over again. Yeah that would be a perfect punishment. It even gave shivers up his own spine. Not really, but metaphors work so much better that way.

With another gulp of the now empty Dr. Pepper (wow, he slurps it fast, huh?), Shadow raised his hand and began to knock loudly on the hard titanium walls. The knocking, of course, could only be heard on the inside of the storage room, because the walls were sound proof. But that didn't mean Shade couldn't hear, oh no.

The moment the banging began, Shade instantly leaped to his feet. "The pickles have taken the castle!" he screamed, his arms were flailing about haphazardly, which, accidentally hit Shadow square in the face. This blasphemous act against one's father raised the ire of the elder hedgehog even more.

Shade looked at what he had done in horror. He had seen his father's face when he had disobeyed him and went into St. Petersburg. Now that looked like a cute little puppy compared to the fury that awaited him.

To someone other than Shade, it would just looked like Shadow was just bearing his teeth. But to Shade, it meant that Hell itself had opened its gates. He could see Shadow's sharpened canines in crystal clear detail. This was just great.

"You're grounded," Shadow growled, shaking in great irritation. "You can't date until you marry."

Shade nodded quickly to his father. He had expected something different, maybe crueler. But still Shadow was probably waiting until they returned home to let both the parent tag-team him.

Shadow stalked out of the room. What was he going to do with him? They were in the Black Comet, for Pete's sake! They obviously couldn't leave him here. The Nephilim would get curious about the shuttle and eventually attack it. And it would almost be impossible to take him along with them. It was dangerous even for him to go out into this charnel house again. Maybe if he stuck him between himself, Manic and Knuckles he just might be able to keep out of trouble.

But now was not the time to worry. Once they stepped out into the real Comet, they would be behind enemy lines. The very walls you were sneaking around could sprout a mouth and eat you alive.

Drums . . . Drums . . .

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Five minutes later, and one strapped mask later, they were able to infiltrate the Black Comet. Each one of the members of the party except Shadow were thoroughly freaked out by the tentacles coming out of the walls, the Black hawks flying over head and then, of course, the drums.

The drums had begun about thirty minutes into the Comet. The moment they began, Shadow was statue still. The others looked at him worriedly, especially Shade. He made no sound or any movement.

In his head, the drums began their symphony of hate and insanity. He had truly hoped never to hear them again. Once, while he was still a prisoner aboard this vessel, he had been left alone long enough, he had been able to dream of a perfect world. There was no drum. Silence. Sweet, wonderful silence.

"Dad?" Shade asked, his voice trembling. The others moved around him, their guns and other weapons ready in case some unexpected company decided to show up. The boy stretched his arm out and grasped his father's shoulder. He did not know what troubled Shadow, but he knew something was wrong. Shadow had stood there for a complete minute and nothing was happening. He wouldn't even respond to their voices. "Dad, snap out of it. Just help out, then we can go home. Please, dad . . ."

The drumming started to recede into the back of his mind where it was harder to hear. Shadow blinked and then noticed the boy behind him. He smiled slightly, course you couldn't see that through his gas mask. "Thanks, son," he said breathing somewhat hard.

They continued their trek through the comet with little to no resistance. To most, this would be a good thing. It meant that their defenses were low or that they were on very lax security. But Shadow knew better. He knew they were always on high security. However, they were just letting them walk through because Umbra wanted them to. He had tried to escape after the first year of torture. In his weakened stat he couldn't make it very far. They could make web after web of perfect defenses almost instantly. He could feel the presence of thousands of soldiers. They were waiting. All they needed was the order to do so and they would have a blood thirst matched only by Umbra.

He felt extremely uneasy with all the eyes watching him. This was _**FAR**_ too easy. Umbra had even constructed bridges for them to get across the poisonous rivers that ran through the comet. Shadow knew that Umbra wanted them dead now. Shadow knew exactly how that sick mind of Umbra worked. He wanted to savor the moment when he took their lives himself. Not let one of his pathetic minions take the glory and blood.

Shadow knew that Umbra was waiting for them at the end of all this. Then this nightmare would be over.

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Clapping. Someone was clapping for them.

They had made it to the center of the Black Comet. There was a giant room, almost exactly like the one that Shadow had first fought Doom in. The pillars were red as blood and in the center of room there was a throne and upon it sat Umbra.

He sat upon the throne, and Shadow had to admit that the chair was the most repulsive thing he had ever seen. It was made of burnet flesh with teeth and bones all scattered inside like someone had taken a blender to them. A heart could be seen from afar, it was still pumping. A single eye was moving along lines all over the throne like a demonic force.

The occupant himself was smug and his fangs barred at them. Saliva dripped of them with a hunger for blood. His black scales showed dull in dark ominous light. His robed had been changed to black and the gold chains were nowhere to be found. Beside the charnel throne was the blackened staff.

He continued to clap, mocking them without a word from his forked tongue. He opened his mouth letting his dagger teeth shine.

"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages," he growled at them, mocking Shakespeare, "But here, you are the puppets and I am the Master! You failed brother. You wished to keep this world from me and yet you bring the pieces all together for me. You fool! Now it is time to end this spectacular game of chess and open up a new age. Now, I'm going to be kind and be someone that who we all know and _love_!"

He stood up and began to change shape. Everyone had expected something like a huge beast or a powerful warrior. Shadow instinctively put his arm in front of his son and the other began to draw the sword on his back. Knuckles had his fist ready; ready to pound the living daylights out of this mass murderer. The Delta Force soldiers and the GERALD droids had formed a perimeter around the group so that no unwanted guest would interfere. Manic held a M-16 and was to give hell to any that crossed his path.

But none had suspected the form he took. His black scales became pale flesh. His robe started to morph into a tight dark blue robe with a trio of crystals hanging from the black ringed belt. His face shifted from the cruel reptilian face to human face that was _extremely _familiar to all. Hair began to grow brown and white and the tips. Lightning began to arc all around the room and through that lightning Shadow could see the one thing that had remained constant: his eyes were still green with the whites of the eyes red as blood.

There before them in a tight dark blue cloak, with power manifesting itself as lightning and a sadistic grin was Robert Eclipse.

"Hello, all you pathetic life forms. I'm back!"

Sharon stared in shock. How DARE _**HE**_! To use that form on her again . . . She wasn't naïve anymore. She'll show him not to toy with the Loveless family. Robert was gone. He was a refreshing wind in this blazing world. Her peace had been shattered by a monster. She would make him pay.

"Aww, Sharon," cooed 'Robert in a mocking baby tone, "you don't love me anymore? You've broken my heart. How could you?"

"You MONSTER!" She shrieked and pulled out her automatic rifle off her back. She unleashed a fury of bullets letting them enter her enemy. She hated him. She hated anything associated with him. He used her for a puppet and she would kill him.

The bullets pierced his cloak and flesh but he started to walk forward, unfazed by the deadly force that would easily killed at least seven men. He smiled full shoeing his teeth. Daggers, they were. She reached into her pocket and threw a grenade. He chuckled at her. He brought his hand up.

BOOM!

When the smoke cleared they could see that there was another Umbra in the room and he had a giant hole in his chest. He began to melt into a fleshy liquid and joined with 'Robert,' who was laughing manically. He stretched forth a clawed hand and pointed to where had been sitting.

"My own throne was a weapon. I am never without a plan. And now the plan is death. You shall die before me. Of course three shall live. But you will never defeat me!"

He stretched his clawed hands, the lightning that had been surrounding him began to take shape into something. Armor. It caressed him and began to spread all over his body. Like a spider crafts a web. He smiled as the lightning came over his face forming into a full helm. "Welcome to Hell!"

**OMG! I AM SOOOOO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG WITH THIS CHAPTER. I had originally intended for it to be just two chapters left but ****I had to cut this one into two. You may place your complaints with feindslayer. **

**O, before we move on. I must ask. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I had a lot to do and there were many distractions from this. Life. I will finish this and all my other stories. **

**One more thing before we move onto the review. I told you last chapter (forever ago) that I was working on a book. And that I would start the second after this. However, my friend Feindslayer looked over the book and it didn't even look like I had written it. It will needs some rewrites. So that means the second will take some rescheduling. And did anyone get where the name Nephilim came from? A cookie to anyone who can get it!**

**Now, before I get roasted for going on too long. REIVEWS!**

**Master Metallix****-just to let you know R.A. Salvatore was good enough to land the job of doing the novelization of Star Wars Attack of the Clones. And if I left them alone then I would have to rely on Umbra's dark Humor for comic relief. Do you really want that?! Simon Cowell is the 'mean' judge on American Idol. He is very blunt and to the point which sometimes hurts the contestants feelings, though it is funny when he gets into it with one of them in a verbal war. And besides, it's a review, not a letter to the UN. You can have few mistakes.**

**Megabrain3000****-Now you see why I needed the Shade scenes. I just couldn't have him appear on the ORION. That would be weird. Some of the spells were taken from Latin, however, :) A friend of mine is real big into Dungeons and Dragons and he as me read some of the books, so some of them came from that. And others, I just made up. Bad Oberon. Since you've been in bated breath for so long, I hope you haven't suffocated while I've been on my lazy butt. Again Sorry for the long wait. Oh, Umbra will get angrier in the next chapter. **

**flowergirl220****-If the last chapter was a long wait, I am **_**EXTREMLY**_** sorry for this on. If think the way he fights is sick, you should see the way he assimilates other creatures into the Black Arms. He did it personally to the Nephilim. And you will see them again in one of the prequels where they haven't been assimilated yet. I do have the list but I want to put my pictures that I drew of Xosnaj and Boxcly into the computer and the scanner had been a real pain in the ass. I've never had an ice cream cake but I'm open to try.**

**XT-421****-Thanks, it wasn't easy to demean him like that because even though he is one of the worst creatures in the universe, I really do think he's cool. I like villains like him. I didn't know when I made him, but I unconsciously used St. Dane, a character from D. J. McHale's Pendragon, as a base for Umbra. He can even change form like Umbra can. Though, I think Umbra's a bit more dramatic. **

**Fiendslayer****-What am I going to do with you? One minute you're basking in the spotlight for your corrections then you demean me, then you applaud me. WHAT"S with you? Oh, yeah, you're nuts. Though I have one question, if your name is feindslayer, why do you have an army of demons?**

**Gadolinium****- You know I hadn't expected you to read my entire story in on night like you did. But I am very thankful. And I think I will make the last scenes a snow scene an. Christmas. If you remember was just around the corner. **

**Only two more to go then we move on! LA LALALALALALALALALALA! I have no idea why I did that.**


	33. THe Power of the Bem Blade

Chapter 32 The Power of the Blade

Shadow and Umbra were locked in combat. They started off with hand to hand, testing each other's strength. Course, their level of strength would be at least ten times that of a normal human. The electric armor that Umbra had weaved around himself beautifully was deadly.

"You can't stop me, you know," Umbra said into his ear, "even if you do, which we both know is neigh impossible, I'll survive. Then this will all repeat. I can just make more Black Arms. They are not trouble. But can you make more G.U.N. soldiers? You know this, as well as I. I will always be here. No matter how hard you try, the darkness will always be waiting to force a knife between your ribs and carry you off. There's no way to stop me and you know it!" The 'man' pushed his elbow right into Shadow's stomach with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

Umbra locked eyes with his wheezing brother and smiled. "Give up, pathetic life form. You are not worthy to remain in this world. I can obliterate you with a—!"

"HEADS UP!"

An explosion launched Umbra forward, skyrocketing him into the dark fleshy wall. Flames licked his form as his flew through the poisoned air.

Shadow, still trying to regain his breath, saw the four Delta force members emptying their ammo magazines. Black Arms were clawing their way toward them using whatever weapon or fellow Arms that was at their disposal. Empty ammo cartridges were falling over the floor as their semi-automatic weaponry discharged. Sharon was using a shotgun to splatter the Black Arms all over the room. Her hate for them knew no bounds. Knuckles didn't try any fancy guns; he just pounded his way through the massing forces with his fists. Manic was shooting off his M-16, as well as throwing the occasional grenade.

Shadow reached for the handle of the RPG launcher on his back and felt only air. He looked back to see it on the floor, knocked out its strap. It was at least fifty feet away from him, and to make matters worse, the Black Voles and the Nephilim were flying and crawling, respectively, all over and around the ceiling waiting to strike. He could see the Nephilim ripping off the green fleshy bags to show huge gapping mouths with dagger fangs and green saliva running down their faces.

Shadow didn't pause any longer; he ran forward to grab the explosive launcher. Out of the corner of his eye he could see 'Robert' running beside him at incredible speed.

_What?_ he thought in amazement. _How can he make that body move like that? Even if he is a shape shifter. This shouldn't be possible!_

They were neck and neck. With a smirk, Robert stole a quick glance at Shadow's left leg. Shadow growled, his ire rising. He had expected this sort of thing from his brother-in-law. But now he had to deal with it from Umbra too.

Umbra started to grow something else as he rammed his electrified body into his brother. Shadow grunted in pain but threw a kick into Umbra's head. Shadow took the pain the electricity gave him and traded it for the pain he gave Umbra by sending him up into the air. Shadow charged forward for the grenade launcher once again.

Two Black Voles dived down, their gold armor dulled by darkness of the Black Comet. They began to fire the worm shooters on their underside at the black hedgehog. The red and black worms flew from their canisters at an extremely high speed. Shadow stepped to the right and dodged the slimy things. He charged forward to see Umbra charging—or should I say flying--through the air at great speed, his bat like wings flapping like a carrion bird. Shadow fired his pistols at his 'brother's' wings. The demon only smirked with an incredulous look. Umbra continued to charge forward, the holes in each of his dark wings being easily repaired.

Shadow turned sharply and launched another volley of bullets, only this time at the Nephilim. This caused the giant guards to scream and release their attacks unintentionally.

The powerful sound waves burst the fleshy green bags covering some of their mouths, but that wasn't the only thing to break under the extremely high pressure that is sound. A huge pulsating crystal hung above the 'throne room,' if you will. Sound is never given any credit as a powerful weapon. However, if you can channel it right and at the right pitch, you can disrupt the very molecules. Umbra had these attacks created into his army and personal guards for this very reason.

And of course, in his current form, Umbra's ears weren't advanced enough to block out the sonic power of the Nephilim. Shadow had felt their power on his own sensitive ears before. Now he got his revenge.

Umbra's screams pierced the semi-darkness of his throne room. Shadow smiled as his 'brother' had to put his hands over his ears to try to escape the pain. This had given Shadow the opportunity he needed. He rushed forward, his now partly cybernetic and unperfected leg biting with venomous pain. He ignored it; adrenalin does that. He picked up the RPG launcher and began to fire at the minions lining the ceiling. The beast shrieked in terror and a few left the ceiling before the explosive devisees. Shadow chuckled. He enjoyed giving his archenemies hell.

He continued to fire the mass destruction weapon. He needed to seal off this room, at least. Umbra was hard enough. He didn't need Umbra to have the organization abilities of the mind link in the fight. Course, he knew that even if he did so he would have to work fast to kill the so called 'immortal.' With that mind link, he would be able to move all the rock and debris in no time. Speed was imperative.

He began to fire at all the holes that were above them. He didn't have to worry about the dome collapsing in on them. This thing, though very macabre, was an engineered marvel and would heal, but it would take a while for it to move the blocked passages.

The grenades launched from their barrel and exploded with a mighty force. The creatures around the holes were caved in, crushed or just simply blown to kingdom come.

Shadow kept on blasting right until a searing pain came upon him. He held his mouth shut so as not to let his scream be heard. THAT HURT! He knew exactly who had done that and he didn't want to give them the satisfaction. He looked back to see a bleeding slash across his back. He turned to see Umbra getting to his feet, a smirk plastered parentally on his face, his clawed human hands splattered with Shadow's blood.

"Even if you block them, you are trapped with me. You aren't perfectly immortal like me. You can't regenerate . . . and neither can they!" The Umbra Shadow had been talking to faded into nothingness. _Damn!_ He thought quickly and turned just as fast. The real Umbra charged his companions with impressive speed. His left human hand morphed again to become clawed like that of a raptor. He moved too fast for any of the group to react; he cut down one of the Delta Force Soldiers. Decapitation. Coronal Ryan, Shadow thought his name had been. But Shadow didn't have time to mourn. He knew he had no more time to play around. He needed to end this before anyone else got hurt. He pulled the blade out of it scabbard. It was time to end this.

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Sharon Loveless looked into his face. She could see everything. It is true what they say, your life really does flash before your eyes. Her past, her home in the Bronx. Her father had been a military man. He had inspired her to go farther than any other, and she had gone far. She could see his funeral and the fallout between her and her mother because of her choice to go to the military. Her graduation from West Point as first of her class. She could see herself joining G.U.N. The Black Arms first falling from the skies all those years ago. She had seen the end of the war. Then she had met the most wonderful man ever. She had meet Robert Eclipse when deciding the heads for the new world security teams. She became head of ARK and he took her old position as coordinator for the Pacific extraterrestrial defense. She could see him when he took her to a restaurant on a date: _Ere de Amour_ it had been called. She hadn't really been interested in any of the conversation and had only gone out with him to get him to stop asking. But in the end, he had won her over to his side and they went on many more 'outings' as the rest of command called them. Sharon hated now that she had fallen for him. That she had used none of her famous skills of looking underneath the underneath. She hated that his exterior and rosy tinted words could captivate her unlike any other 'person' she had ever meet. She could see that night he had proposed to her and had single-handedly fought off forty Black Arms soldiers. He had even rigged his own car to explode with just the punching of a few buttons and even under the tux he had worn he had a sidearm and a few blades hidden. She could see him on the screen making the Robert she had known and loved disappear forever and mask strings came undone to show him for what he truly was. A monster.

She gazed into those red and green orbs. They had none of the compassion and caring that she had seen. Now they held the cold steel of a veteran killer.

Time slowed down as she saw her friend and comrade, Coronal Jack Ryan, cut down by a raptor like claw from her former lover. She saw every drop of blood spew out of his neck as he died. She felt like that was her. Umbra would swat her away like she was nothing, then he would move one with his mass murder. Blood would be split. That much was sure. She had make sure that it was not hers or any more of her friends this day.

Her body was frozen. She couldn't force her body to point the shotgun at the demon before her and shoot. He held her once again, but not in love or tenderness. No, now he held her in fear. He could kill her easily. Nothing could stop him. If he wanted to, he could have had them all killed off a long time ago. And he could still do it now. One swipe of his cruel curved claw and you would pass from this world.

Now she was afraid.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Umbra smiled at her fear. At all of their fear. He could taste it, he could smell it. It was joyous. Pitiful mortals who had dared to defy him. Laughable. Now he could deal with them. This time without interference. But, truly, it didn't matter if he failed this time to seize this world. The seed was growing. He could fell the heart beat already. He only needed to wait a few more years and the process would be complete. He wouldn't need Shadow's blood to speed it up. Everything would go according to plan.

Or so he thought . . .

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shadow charged the humanoid creature, his blade poised to strike deep within the heart. With this blade, Umbra's wounds would be real. They would cause damage that he couldn't regenerate. The sword had the ability down to the molecular level to stop his regeneration, effectively killing him if a fatal blow. That shouldn't be too hard. Umbra never had real use of defense. He had never needed it.

Umbra moved too quickly. With a spin kick, he knocked Knuckles to the side and then proceeded to tear a huge claw mark into Manic's face, who at the time had been trying to load a Javelin rocket launcher. Then, oh then, he locked eyes with his intended target. Shade stood there with a pistol in his hands. Umbra smirked in his semi-human form. Was this truly the child he had wanted for his experiments? Was this the one who had almost brought Shadow down? The oddities of life.

"You're going to shoot me boy?" Umbra said, hissing. "You can't kill me. You don't have it in you to kill me. You're weak. I am strong. We are two different beings and there will always be that barrier between you and I. There is nothing you could do even if you could unlock the cold beast within. I am a perfect immortal. You are nothing but a worm. Everything I do, I have goal in mind and I get to that goal. The ends justifies the means, brat. Understand that and embrace it."

Umbra was cut off from continuing by a bullet straight into his face. Actually one bullet and a slug. Shade had closed his eyes when the bullets had fired. The first thing he noticed was the smoking Colt pistol in his hands. His eyes followed the direction of the gun to the bloody and healing face of his 'uncle.' Another hole came through the front of his face, which revealed some of the back wall if you looked. Not that Shade ever wanted to look of course. Sharon shot behind Eclipse; her face was full of righteous fury. She hated Eclipse. She wanted him to burn and he would. She continued to fire on him. The M-shotgun let loose hell on the monster from space. Holes began to riddle the human like form. But no exclamation of pain or surprise. Umbra could get used to it. He could easily grow the flesh and sinew back easily. Nothing could stop him.

Nothing . . . but the blade.

Umbra ruptured in pain. Like his whole body was on fire and then soaked in dry ice. He had never experienced this. This . . _pain_, was unlike any he had every felt. This was impossible.

The blade stood out of Umbra's back. Shadow left it there. He would have held on to it, but the moment it pierced the flesh, it began to burn powerfully. Course, the pain he was experiencing was nothing like Umbra was feeling. He was writhing all over the room. And it wasn't just the Lord of the Black Arms. His minions began to howl and scream in pain and fury. Shadow could only watch in horror and utter amazement at the effect mind link had on the army.

How ironic it was. It was incredible how far the monster had fallen. He had wanted so many to suffer for his pleasure and now Shadow smiled somewhat to see the Machiavellian creature get what he deserved.

Umbra crawled on the floor shifting through various forms faster than you could blink. One moment, he would be an old scarred robed man, then a huge biotech insect with a glowing yellow gem, then a huge black dragon. Every form was completely different and varied but the blood on the floor remained the same color: black. He could not stand it. He crawled his way to a wall. He clawed at it as if trying to pull it down, but nothing came.

Then the real pain began.

"_**THIS CANNOT BE! I AM THE ULTIMATE LIFE! I AM THE FIRST BORN! DAMN YOU SHADOW! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!"**_

His screams ceased as he began to bulge and convulse. Huge boil like objects formed and veins and arties opened violently, spewing blood everywhere. He began to scream once again. But not in fury, pain, or anger.

In fear.

"NO!"

He exploded with monstrous power, spreading his multiple insides across the room! Multiple colors of eyes flew everywhere along with tentacles.

Shade wiped his hand across his face, removing the dark slime from it. He would be thoroughly disgusted with the last few minutes for the rest of his life. He looked over to his family. Manic was alright except for a messed up face, and two broken ribs. Knuckles was alright but bruised up pretty bad. Sharon was pretty much dirty and a bit bruised. The two remaining delta force members were ok. The droids had been demolished by the force of the Nephilim scream. He looked at his father with a tired smile. Shade ran to him and hugged him.

Shadow's smile grew wider, and hugged his son tighter. "It's finally over son. Umbra Eclipse is dead."

They broke from their hug, but not by their choice. An earthquake knocked them off the ground. As fate would have it, a cold laughter broke out just this moment. "YOU MAY HAVE KILLED ME, BUT YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE HERE ALIVE! WITHOUT ME TO CONTROL IT, THE COMET WILL SELF-DESTRUCT! DIE SCUM!"

Shadow ran over to the chandelier as fast he could with his cybernetic implant. Attached to it were four of the seven Chaos emeralds. He took his pistol and fired on the placing of the emeralds, knocking each on free. "EVERYONE, TO ME!" he called, flipping up to grab the emeralds before they could shatter. He grabbed each one and placed one in each palm and the others under his arm.

The others grabbed hold of the dark hedgehog. He looked at each of them quickly, and then yelled to the entire comet, "CHAOS EPIPHANY!

A flash of light and then they were all gone.

**Greetings ONE AND ALL! Or just one if the case may be. I'm not dead, I just had some distractions. Sorry to say that this is the second to last chapter of Legacy. (sniffle) It has been fun working on it and I've gotten a lot better since I started it. At least in my own opinion. I hope you guys enjoyed the cliffhanger, but don't worry, this or any of my stories won't be dropped or put up for adoption.**

**Oh, and just to let everyone know. The Nephilim were taken from the Bible. They are the crossing of fallen angels and human women to make giants and dark powerful beings. They will appear again, in the prequel Return of the Beginning. **

**Here come the REVIEWS, all fat and WIDE . . OH! Wrong song!**

**Megabrain3000****-you are correct, EPS does stand for Earth Protectorate ship. Really, I didn't get the drums from the Mines of Moria. I can see the connection though. I can say this though, You need to see Doctor Who; the sounds of the Drums. Though I've been wanting to do the drums for some time now. **

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****- What do you mean by sissy? I thought it was good. Umbra mocks our culture in every way he can, or could now. He just insulted one of the Earth's greatest writers an you called him a sissy? What's up with that?**

**Master Metallix****- No, you misunderstood me. I don't know R.A. Salvatore personally. I wish I did. He would be a great help, but alas. All I can do is read his MANY books. I've read at least six of his books so far and each one has been great. You should look them up. And thanks for tall the corrections. Feindslayer was unable to get to his computer for awhile and I got impatient so I decided to do send it in. **

**And oh, you were the only one who noticed the 'three that will live' comment and said anything about it. That will be revealed in Return of Opposite Twins. And no sooner. **

**XT-421****- I noticed the Autobots and such but I didn't notice Grievous. But has your girlfriend read the story and if so, does she like this?**

**Flowergirl****- WRONG! You of course read my first author note so you now no where I got the real nephilim. And you can start a sentence with 'and.' It may not correct, but in writing you can do it because we speak in fragments. There are a few rules that can be broken. I wanted Sharon to be like that. She needs to be like that for Opposite Twins. I liked Doom as well, that's why I decided to do this story, but I wanted a more charismatic villain and Umbra popped up to show the way! POWER TO THE DEAD!**

**Fiendslayer- YOU CAN'T SAY ANTHING THIS TIME MUHAHAHAHA! Oh and were they once under Grattz?**

**Well, it's been fun but I have to go work on a model spitfire for History class, otherwise, feindslayer will get an F.**


	34. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Snow. No matter what had happened before, this time of year always brought peace to the people experiencing it. Christmas time flowed through the air and everyone was in a cheery mood despite the horrors of the past months.

Shadow had used an experimental Chaos move to remove everyone out of the Black Comet. They had landed in a Moscow ballet performance. President Putin had been attending and immediately demanded an explanation. Sharon got right in his face and _she_ demanded that he shut his mouth and get the stick out of his ass. Shadow and rest of them laughed and they eventually were able to 'procure' a transport back home.

Now it was 7:00 A.M., December 25th. Umbra hadn't ruined everything. They were now at the Plaza hotel in New York. It really wasn't that hard to get considering that they were all war heroes and the fact that Shadow had waved a blank check under the front desk attendant's nose that read _President of the United States_. Very convincing.

_Damn sun!_ Shadow thought as he turned over next to his wife. Interesting thing about Shadow the Hedgehog, Brigadier General of GUN; he hated mornings. Especially mornings that were supposed to be restful and relaxing. Like Saturdays and today. He knew what today was. Duh! Shade and Crystal were determined to make this the best Christmas in the history of . . . uh . . . Christmas's!

They had been singing carols for an entire week. This was to be their first Christmas with a father, alive, well, and no insane monsters from space. The remaining Black Arms on Earth had been rounded up and either killed or dissected. Shadow had been called in to help study them but he told them that he wouldn't do anything until he had four months off. No one complained about it. The fact that he had all but threatened them also helped their decision.

Shadow looked at the peaceful form of Sonia beside him. A smile one her face. He had to admit that he had been enjoying these last few days. Especially the nights.

Shade and Crystal had taken to making sure that when anything even remotely Christmassy was going on, Shadow would get involved. Unfortunately for the locals, they had gotten him on an ice skating race. He won the first round so easily that the judges had to keep him from doing the rest because it would be unfair.

Sonia had them put up a tree. The best or worst experience of the whole bloody thing. They had gotten the thing up of course. Problem was that when they called for a ladder to put the star on, they had gotten a rickety one, and when Shadow went to put the star on, it snapped. Course the tree had fallen over, but thankfully, none of the ornaments had broken. They had all had a good laugh at the fact that the thistle had fallen on Shadow so much that when he got up, it looked like he was wearing a dress. The rest of his family couldn't contain their laughter. He had even joined in by playing pranks on them for the rest of the day. Mostly using ornaments from the tree. By the end of the day, Shade was wearing the star on his head, Crystal was wearing ornaments in her hair (she actually liked them), and Sonia got it easier. She got a dress made out of Christmas lights.

Shadow didn't really have time to laugh about it now, as right at that moment came two pajama clad hedgehogs, bright with the words "IT'S CHRISTMAS! WAKE UP!" on their lips.

They proceeded to jump on the bed, jarring the sleeping form of Sonia to emerge as a female Einstein with her front hair going in every direction. This brought laughs from the whole room.

She smiled and sprang from the bed, and in a mass of pink, black, and red, there came a tickle fight. Shadow watched his wife and children proceed to laugh, toss and turn all over the floor. He smiled and escaped quickly and quietly into the living room.

Everyone had thought of having the traditional Christmas party, but that idea was shot down almost immediately. Everyone wanted time to readjust. So did the rest of the world. Shadow enjoyed the peace and quiet. He looked out the window to see the parade was beginning to get underway. He'd have to get everybody out from that little 'skirmish' they were having in the master bedroom.

He picked up the phone and ordered breakfast for everyone. Pancakes, sausage, eggs, biscuits, and multiple other unnecessary breakfast items. He turned on the radio beside the fireplace and the first thing that came on was Shadow's all time favorite Christmas song: I'll be home for Christmas. He liked the tune and it applied to him as well as many others.

He barely got into the second chorus before the rest of the family came into the living room. Shadow had to smile. Shade bounded in jumping onto his father, a smile spreading from ear to ear.

Shadow chuckled. "You know that all those presents are just screaming 'open me' right?" This took immediate effect on the young boy. He moved so fast from his dad's lap that you would have thought Chaos control was the answer.

The presents were great for all of them. Shade had gotten multiple books, art supplies, and a watch that had a phone, a camera, and an iPod all rolled into one. Crystal also received a watch, she also got a dress. The label said _The Shadonia Weddings!_ It had been made smaller for her, so hopefully, thought Shadow, it wasn't for a wedding. At least not so soon. He had reason to. She had gotten a necklace from Lucas and a card that said 'be my Christmas.' Different. Shadow would definitely have to have a talk with that boy.

Shadow himself had gotten a brand new laptop for all his writing, a special present from everybody else: his stuff from the vault at Prower Command, a few books, and a wrapped package with a card tapped to the back. He picked it up and red it

_Hope you enjoy this. This is the first copy. They said they loved it and would put a few in our hands. _

_Merry Christmas, Commander Sharon Loveless_

Shadow tossed the card away and ripped away the paper. He gasped at what he found. It was a book. But not just any book. At the bottom of the book where the authors name would be was _his_ name! The cover art showed the planet Earth shadowed by a large black circular shape. _Earth's Finest Hour by Shadow the Hedgehog__._ Shadow's first work. At least his first that was accepted by a publisher. He had trouble with getting any ready for the open market because no one would accept his work. Sent back to him the day after he sent it to them. But now, he held his first work in his hands.

He looked up to see Sonia only inches away from his face. If this had been like the first time she had done this all those years ago when he was still a little nervous, he would have, as he had done then, stumbled back surprised, and blushing rather profusely. Now, however, he was experienced in 'certain' things. He leaned forward only a flat surface. He opened his eyes to see that his lips were pressed against the cover of the book on his own name.

"Wow, Shad," Sonia said though laughing and pulling the book away, "I didn't know you had such an ego."

Shadow mock glared at her and then led them to watch the parade from the window.

It was when the Clifford the Big Red Dog balloon went by when Shadow pulled something out of his pocket. He smiled at the item. It had been thirteen years since he had worn it but he wouldn't need it. She could.

"Sonia," he said to his wife.

"Hm?"

"You haven't got your gift, have you?"

She smiled. She had known, but had waited until he would ask.

He moved around her and wrapped something around her neck. She gasped when she saw what it was. A sterling silver necklace with a charm on it that a pink swirl intertwined with a black and red one. Also a gold ring that was very, _very familiar._

"Y-your ring?"

He smiled at her. "I trust you with it more than me. And you have to admit that it makes the necklace look better that way."

She smiled at him and hoped he would never change. Sure he was sometimes dark and mysterious, but she liked her bad boy. He was perfect for her. Life couldn't be better.

THE END

**WHAAAAAAAAA! It's all over! Sorry but it's been fun. I have enjoyed this all. You all have been a blast. But fret not! I have already written up half of Return of an Empire on paper. It will be a bit of a crossover but no worries. Empire and Opposite Twins will be completed! I promise! Just Legacy is over. Of course, while I'm working on them, I'll start back on The Next Life and the Bet of the Law. The people wanting for them must be really impatient with me by now. YOSH!**

**Alas the final Review answering**

**White Keyblade Oathkeeper****-good, I thought you didn't like it, there will a Shakespeare quote in each one. And believe it or not, Shakespeare's work is not copyrighted so I can do without paying even if this was real publication.**

**Master Metallix****-STUPID! I'm so stupid! I knew I forgot something! I had forgotten about the dang crystal. Wait no I didn't! The chandler and the crystal are one in the same. The one that held the four emeralds. Thanks. I can't spell French military ranks so I hoped my editor could but he didn't notice. Our bad. **

**Shadonialuver****-no worries, as you hopefully read above, the series will continue and Shadow and Sonia will appear. However, they won't appear at all in Empire except for reference but will entirely in Twins. And thanks!**

**Megabrain3000****-Thanks, death is defiantly a new experience for him. He's been shot, blown up, burned, electrocuted, drowned, crushed, decapitated, cut, ground, and reduced to molecules. This is defiantly new for him. No the eyes are not a different color; it's just that the eyes are red where your eye would be white and green at the iris. Oh, and the blade will appear again in Twins. **

**GIGA-XISBASS****- you're a big talker aren't you?**

**Goodbye everyone, have a good summer and FEEL THE POWER OF YOUTH!**


End file.
